It is no harm, and no shame," she went on, raising her head, and showing her burning cheeks, "for a girl to like somebody who cares very much for her; and I think she would be a poor creature if she did not go on caring for him as long as she believed he was true to her." The little spark of pride died out with the last words, and there was a faint quiver in her voice.
"Maurice would say so himself," she ended, triumphantly.
"Of course he would.

But I don't see that Maurice would be a fair judge of the case.

The question is, what does a girl deserve who has to choose between Maurice and Percy, and chooses Percy ?" Lucia recoiled.

She could hardly yet bear to hear the name she had been dreaming over so long spoken in so harsh a way, and still less to hear it coupled in this way with Maurice's.
"Maurice will soon find somebody else," she said.

"He is not a poor man, mamma, that he should mind so much." Mrs.Costello half rose from the sofa.