"Why! it is not that she will forget me without it,
but that she may have something by her to remind
her of me-----" said Julia rapidly, but pausing as the
contradiction struck even herself.

"I understand you perfectly, my child," interrupted
the aunt, "merely as an unnecessary security, you
mean."

"To make assurance doubly sure," cried Charles
Weston with a laugh.

"Oh! you laugh, Mr. Weston," said Julia with a little
anger; "but I have often said, you were incapable of
friendship."

"Try me!" exclaimed the youth fervently. "Do not
condemn me without a trial."

"How can I?" said Julia, laughing in her turn. "You
are not a girl."

"Can girls then only feel friendship?" inquired
Charles, taking the seat which Miss Emmerson had
relinquished.

"I sometimes think so," said Julia, with her own
good-humoured smile. "You are too gross--too
envious--in short, you never see such friendships
between men as exist between women."