Page:A Virgin Heart.pdf/120

116 "I shall come back with pleasure and I shall do nothing; but if I have not made you dislike me, I shall consider that I have done a great deal."

"But I don't dislike you. When people agree with me, I never dislike them."

"But how can people fail to agree with you, when you say such sensible things?"

"Oh, that's very easy. M. Hervart doesn't dispense with disagreement. He contradicts me, laughs at me."

"Good," thought Leonor, "she's in love with Hervart; then she likes being contradicted and even laughed at a little. Or perhaps she's lying, so as to make me believe that Hervart is indifferent to her. Let's try and get a rise."

"At his age that sort of thing is permissible."

"That's why I don't get cross."

"And besides, he's very nice."

"Oh, so nice; I'm very fond of him."

"It doesn't take," though Leonor. "Hervart, to her, is a god and we might go on talking till to-morrow without her understanding a single one of my insinuations or ironies."