She should have said, coldly, but firmly--every right-minded and well-behaved girl would have said--"Sir, it is not right that you should come alone to a young lady's study.

Such things are not to be permitted.

It we meet in society, we may, perhaps, renew our acquaintance." But girls do go on sometimes as if there was no such thing as propriety at all, and such cases are said to be growing more frequent.
Besides, Iris was not a girl who was conversant with social convenances.

She looked at her pupil thoughtfully and frankly.
"Can we ?" she asked.

She who hesitates is lost, a maxim which cannot be too often read, said, and studied.