But, though I am neither ugly nor stupid, he needn't like
me.'
'Do you want him to like you?'
'Yes, I do. Oh yes; you may laugh; but if I did not think that I
could be a good wife to him I would not take his hand even to
become the Duchess of Omnium.'
'Do you mean that you love him, Mabel?'
'No; I do not mean that. But I would learn to love him. You do not
believe that?' Here he again smiled and shook his head. 'It is as
I said before, because you are not a woman, and do not understand
how woman are trammelled. Do you think ill of me because I say
this?'
'No, indeed.'
'Do not think ill of me if you can help it, because you are almost
the only friend that I trust. I almost trust dear old Cass, but
not quite. She is old-fashioned and I shock her. As for other
women, there isn't one anywhere to whom I would say a word. Only
think how a girl such as I am is placed; or indeed any girl. You,
if you see a woman that you fancy, can pursue her, can win her and
triumph, or lose her and gnaw your heart;--at any rate you can do
something.
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