While in the turn for
candour, she ought to have told him, that previous to her decision she
had weighed the case of the diverse claims of himself and Tinman, and
resolved them according to her predilection for the peaceful residence of
her father and herself in England. This she had done a little
regretfully, because of the natural sympathy of the young girl
for the younger man. But the younger man had seemed to her
seriously-straightforward mind too light and airy in his wooing, like one
of her waltzing officers--very well so long as she stepped the measure
with him, and not forcible enough to take her off her feet. He had
changed, and now that he had become persuasive, she feared he would
disturb the serenity with which she desired and strove to contemplate her
decision. Tinman's magnanimity was present in her imagination to sustain
her, though she was aware that Mrs. Cavely had surprised her will, and
caused it to surrender unconsulted by her wiser intelligence.
"I cannot listen to you," she said to Herbert, after listening longer
than was prudent.
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