hill, we fell into silence again, which, as usual, he was the first to break.
"My house is desolate yet, Miss Grey," he smilingly observed, "and I am acquainted now with all the ladies in my parish, and several in this town too; and many others I know by sight and by report; but not one of them will suit me for a companion. . .in fact, there is only one person in the world that will; and that is yourself; and I want to know your decision?"
"Are you in earnest, Mr. Weston?"
"In earnest! How could you think I should jest on such a subject?"
He laid his hand on mine that rested on his arm: he must have felt it tremble. . .but it was no great matter now.
"I hope I have not been too precipitate," he said, in a serious tone. "You must have known that it was not my way to flatter and talk soft nonsense, or even to speak the admiration that I felt; and that a single word or glance of mine meant more than the honied phrases and fervent protestations of most other men."
I said something about not liking to leave my mother, and doing nothing without her consent.
