"That's how a girl talks to you when she knows you're ready to jump into the river! It's my belief that girls haven't much feeling." The outrageous audacity of this avowal saved the speaker from Polly's indignation.

She saw that he was terribly driven, and, in spite of herself, once more softened towards him; for Polly had never disliked Mr.Parish; from the very first his ingenuous devotedness excited in her something, however elementary, of reciprocal feeling.

She thought him comely to look upon, and had often reflected upon how pleasant it was to rule a man by her slightest look or word.

To be sure, Christopher's worldly position was nothing to boast of; but one' knew him for the steady, respectable young clerk, who is more likely than not to advance by modest increments of salary.

Miss Sparkes would have perceived, had she been capable of intellectual perception, that Christopher answered fairly well to one of her ideals.