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Rh more than indifferent to John Derrick, but she disliked to give pain, and so she listened. It was not at all unpleasant to listen; she had always liked the love passages in her favourite novels and romances better than any other passages in the books, and had often wondered if that was the way in which declarations were made in real life. So she listened much longer than she ought to have done, not as if it were her own concern, but wondering what other people would think of it if they only knew; how amused her mamma would be, and how indignant her papa at the young man's presumption. She was not old enough or thoughtful enough to feel the pain which a fruitless declaration ought to give to a woman. Her lover interpreted her silence as encouragement; he took her hand and was raising it to his lips when Eveline started, and woke to the consciousness that this was really her own affair, and that Mr. John Derrick was entitled to an answer.

"Oh, no!" said she, "I cannot allow of such a thing. What would papa say?"

"But I have your permission, Lady Eveline, to speak to the Earl on this subject?" said John Derrick.

Eveline did not know what her consent to this