This page needs to be proofread.
III.]
Quality Street

MISS SUSAN

He is infatuate— (She hesitates) Sister, you are not partial to him still?

PHOEBE

No, Susan, no. I did love him all those years, though I never spoke of it to you. I put hope aside at once, I folded it up and kissed it and put it away like a pretty garment I could never wear again, but I loved to think of him as a noble man. But he is not a noble man, and Livvy found it out in an hour. The gallant! I flirted that I might enjoy his fury. Susan, there has been a declaration in his eyes all to-night, and when he cries 'Adorable Miss Livvy, be mine,' I mean to answer with an 'Oh, la, how ridiculous you are. You are much too old—I have been but quizzing you, sir.'

MISS SUSAN

Phoebe, how can you be so cruel?

PHOEBE

Because he has taken from me the one great glory that is in a woman's life. Not

119