a charm which has won you, I think her dangerous—to a man. She seems to me to go about seeking whom she may devour. I don't mean to be devoured."
"Has she made the smallest sign of wishing to devour you?" asked his sister, sarcastically, raising her head. "No! Your own words convict you. You say she showed very plainly she did not want you—that she does not like you———"
"Only because I do not pay her the attention she expects, and is used to receive."
"You argue in a vicious circle. You are cold and stiff in your manner to her; and when she returns your lead, as any girl of spirit would, you say she does not like you; but she is dangerous, and you are not going to be devoured. You take yourself too seriously, Alaric—you really do."
"I am sorry you think so, Hatty," he said gravely; "for you are the one person in the world who loves me, and whose opinion I care for. If you think me a vain fool———"
"No, no, no!" she cried remorsefully, and seized his hand in both hers. "I never meant that. There is no one in the world like you, Ally—no one so good and high-minded and unselfish. Only you don't make allowance for poor weak human nature, including yourself."
"I don't know what you are driving at, Hatty. If I am not a fool—and I do not think I am, though very far from being the Phœnix you imagine me—but if I am not a fool, why am I to 'make allowances' for myself? Why do you say I take myself too seriously?"
"You are over-sensitive, as so many of our countrymen
