It must not therefore be supposed that when Frank Gresham told her that he loved her, she had heard it altogether unconcerned.
He had not, perhaps, made his declaration with that propriety of language in which such scenes are generally described as being carried on.

Ladies may perhaps think that Mary should have been deterred, by the very boyishness of his manner, from thinking at all seriously on the subject.

His "will you, won't you--do you, don't you ?" does not sound like the poetic raptures of a highly inspired lover.

But, nevertheless, there had been warmth, and a reality in it not in itself repulsive; and Mary's anger--anger?
no, not anger--her objections to the declarations were probably not based on the absurdity of her lover's language.
We are inclined to think that these matters are not always discussed by mortal lovers in the poetically passionate phraseology which is generally thought to be appropriate for their description.

A man cannot well describe that which he has never seen nor heard; but the absolute words and acts of one such scene did once come to the author's knowledge.