You are happier for them, and I would be
the last to dispel them."
"You are considerate," she retorted: "it is more than possible you
will not dispel my illusions; there will not be--"
"You mean to imply, delicately," he interrupted her, "that you do not
consider me worthy of being added to the list of your acquaintances?"
"I really have given the matter no thought, and I do not see what
advantage either side could derive from further acquaintance." But
she colored slightly as she spoke, and turned to him an angrily severe
profile.
"Don't you think," he said--and his calm, drawling tone formed a
contrast to her own lack of control which she could not fail to
appreciate--"don't you think that you judge me with exaggerated
harshness? Do you think the life of any one of these men who have
surrounded you to-night, and upon whom you certainly did not frown,
would bear inspection? It would almost appear as if I had personally
incurred your displeasure, you are so very hard upon me. You forget
that my offense could not have any individual application for you.
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