nothing could have been more natural than that, curious, imaginative,
audacious as he was, and delighting, as I have said, in the play of his
singularly nimble intelligence, he should have given himself up to a
sort of unconscious experimentation. "I will leave her alone--I will be
hanged if I attempt to draw her out!" he said to himself; and meanwhile
he was roaming afield and plucking personal impressions in great
fragrant handfuls. All this, as I say, was natural, given the man and
the situation; the only oddity is that he should have fancied himself
able to persuade the person most interested that he had renounced his
advantage.

He remembered her telling him that she cared very much what he should
say of her on Gordon Wright's return, and he felt that this declaration
had a particular significance. After this, of her own movement, she
never spoke of Gordon, and Bernard made up his mind that she had
promised her mother to accept him if he should repeat his proposal, and
that as her heart was not in the matter she preferred to drop a veil
over the prospect. "She is going to marry him for his money," he said,
"because her mother has brought out the advantages of the thing. Mrs.
Vivian's persuasive powers have carried the day, and the girl has made
herself believe that it does n't matter that she does n't love him.
Perhaps it does n't--to her; it 's hard, in such a case, to put one's
self in the woman's point of view. But I should think it would matter,
some day or other, to poor Gordon. She herself can't help suspecting it
may make a difference in his happiness, and she therefore does n't wish
to seem any worse to him than is necessary. She wants me to speak well
of her; if she intends to deceive him she expects me to back her up.
The wish is doubtless natural, but for a proud girl it is rather an odd
favor to ask. Oh yes, she 's a proud girl, even though she has been
able to arrange it with her conscience to make a mercenary marriage. To