Page:Elizabeth's Pretenders.djvu/184

Rh Baring (smiling grimly). "You may allow Miss Shaw to have one redeeming weakness."

Eliza. "That is an ungenerous sneer at your sister's weakness for me, Mr. Baring! I could point Mr. George's moral; for nothing was known of me when I came here, and Hatty did take me on trust."

Hatty. "That is because I have intuition."

Eliza. "Not at all. None of you know anything about me. I am the tangled web of good and bad Mr. George talks of so poetically; but Hatty would only find the good if it were not for you," she added, laughing.

Baring (with a forced smile). "I have no intuitions—only observation."

George. "Are you not sometimes mistaken—misled by your observations?"

Eliza. "Mr. Baring never would own it. No man ever does."

Baring. "I beg your pardon, Miss Shaw. I was mistaken—I own it—about you at first."

Eliza. "Really? For better or for worse? I am curious to know."

Hatty. "Come, that is not fair, Elizabeth. I advise you, Alaric, not to answer that."

Baring. "Oh, I have no objection to answer Miss Shaw frankly. Observation, like certain drugs, is cumulative. First impressions are not observation, though they may be strengthened by it. Mine have been corrected in some respects."

George (laughing). "Is that a very frank answer? I should rather call it a very cautious one."

Eliza. "I can read between the lines."