Are you really in love with her, John ?" his friend asked seriously.
"No, Gilbert, upon my honour.

I heartily wish I were.

I wish I could give her more by-and-by, when death brings about her release from Michael Branston, than the kind of liking I feel for her.

No, I am not in love with her; but I think she likes me; and a man must be something worse than a brute if he is not grateful for a pretty woman's regard." They said no more about Mrs.Branston.Gilbert had a strong distaste for the business; but he did not care to take upon himself the office of mentor to a friend whose will he knew to be much stronger than his own, and to whose domination he had been apt to submit in most things, as to the influence of a superior mind.

It disappointed him a little to find that John Saltram was capable of making a mercenary marriage, capable even of the greater baseness involved in the anticipation of a dead man's shoes; but his heart was not easily to be turned against the chosen friend of his youth, and he was prompt in making excuses for the line of conduct he disapproved..