Come, now, what
do you want of me--without a lie, if you _can?"_
"I wanted to see you, and talk to you, and hear your prospects."
"Well, I have told you." And she pretended to be going.
"Don't be in such a hurry. Tell us the news. Is it true that Lady
Bassett is expected--"
"Oh, that is no news."
"It is to me."
"'Tain't no news in our house. Why, we have known it for months."
This took away the man's breath for a minute.
At last he said, with a great deal of intention:
"Will it be fair or dark?"
"As God pleases."
"I'll bet you five pounds to one that it is dark."
Mary shrugged her shoulders contemptuously, as if these speculations
were too childish for her.
"It's my lady you want to talk about, is it? I thought it was to make
me a wedding present."
He actually put his hand in his pocket and gave her two sovereigns. She
took them with a grim smile.
He presumed on this to question her minutely.
She submitted to the interrogatory.
Only, as the questions were not always delicate, and the answer was
invariably an untruth, it may be as well to pass over the rest of the
dialogue. Suffice it to say that, whenever the girl saw the drift of a
question she lied admirably; and when she did not, still she lied upon
principle: it must be a good thing to deceive the enemy.
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