I was a little wrinkled old woman at ten." "I am afraid," said Rowland, in a moment, "that you are fond of painting yourself in dark colors." She looked at him a while in silence.

"Do you wish," she demanded at last, "to win my eternal gratitude?
Prove to me that I am better than I suppose." "I should have first to know what you really suppose." She shook her head.

"It would n't do.

You would be horrified to learn even the things I imagine about myself, and shocked at the knowledge of evil displayed in my very mistakes." "Well, then," said Rowland, "I will ask no questions.

But, at a venture, I promise you to catch you some day in the act of doing something very good." "Can it be, can it be," she asked, "that you too are trying to flatter me?
I thought you and I had fallen, from the first, into rather a truth-speaking vein." "Oh, I have not abandoned it!" said Rowland; and he determined, since he had the credit of homely directness, to push his advantage farther.