There might be disappointment. If he escaped
her there would be bitter disappointment. But seeing how it was,
had she any further ground for hope? She certainly had no ground
for anger!
It was thus, within her own bosom, she put questions to herself.
And yet all this before her was simply a game of play in which the
girl and the young man were as eager for victory as though they
were children. They were thinking neither of love nor love-making.
That the girl should be so lovely was not doubt a pleasure to
him;--and perhaps to her also that she should be joyous to look at
and sweet of voice. But he, could he have been made to tell all
the truth within him, would have still owned that it was his
purpose to make Mabel his wife.
When the game was over and the propositions made for further
matches and the like,--Miss Boncassen said that she would betake
herself to her own room. 'I never worked so hard in my life
before,' she said. 'And I feel like a navvie. I could drink beer
out of a jug and eat bread and cheese. I won't play with you any
more, Lord Silverbridge, because I am beginning to think it is
unladylike to exert myself.
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