I should hate to have you cross-examine me unless I were very sure of my evidence." She gave a little shrug of her shoulders in reply as she turned and resumed her embroidery.

They talked for a while longer, but of other things, the discussion of woman's influence having been dropped by mutual consent.
After John's departure she suspended operations on the doily, and sat for a while gazing reflectively into the fire.

She was a person as frank with herself as with others, and with as little vanity as was compatible with being human, which is to say that, though she was not without it, it was of the sort which could be gratified but not flattered--in fact, the sort which flattery wounds rather than pleases.

But despite her apparent skepticism she had not been displeased by John's assertion that she had influenced him in his course.

She had expressed herself truly, believing that he would have done as he had without her intervention; but she thought that he was sincere, and it was pleasant to her to have him think as he did.
Considering the surroundings and conditions under which she had lived, she had had her share of the acquaintance and attentions of agreeable men, but none of them had ever got with her beyond the stage of mere friendliness.