She blushed, fixed her eyes steadily on the ground, and said, pretty
firmly and very slowly, "I had always a great affection for my cousin
Compton; and so I have now. But I am not in love with him. He is but a
boy; now I--"
A glance at the large mirror, and a superb smile of beauty and
conscious womanhood, completed the sentence.
"He will get older every day," said Mrs. Bassett.
"And so shall I."
"But you will not look older, and he will. You have come to your full
growth. He hasn't."
"I agree with the dear girl," said Lady Bassett, adroitly. "Compton,
with his fair hair, looks so young, it would be ridiculous at present.
But it is possible to be engaged, and wait a proper time for marriage;
what I fear is, lest you should be tempted by some other offer. To
speak plainly, I hear that Mr. Rutland pays his addresses to you, and
visits at Highmore."
"Yes, he has been there twice."
"He is welcome to your father; and his prospects are dazzling; and he
is not a boy, for he has long mustaches."
"I am not dazzled by his mustaches, and still less by his prospects,"
said the fair young beauty.
"You are an extraordinary girl."
"That she is," said Mrs. Bassett. "Her father has no more power over
her than I have."
"Oh, mamma! am I a disobedient girl, then?"
"No, no.
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