"
"Oh pshaw!" Henrietta groaned.
"Then it seemed to me," said Ralph, "that I was not good enough."
"It would improve you. Besides, it's your duty."
"Ah," cried the young man, "one has so many duties! Is that a duty
too?"
"Of course it is- did you never know that before? It's every one's
duty to get married."
Ralph meditated a moment; he was disappointed. There was something
in Miss Stackpole he had begun to like; it seemed to him that if she
was not a charming woman she was at least a very good "sort." She
was wanting in distinction, but, as Isabel had said, she was brave:
she went into cages, she flourished lashes, like a spangled
lion-tamer. He had not supposed her to be capable of vulgar arts,
but these last words struck him as a false note. When a marriageable
young woman urges matrimony on an unencumbered young man the most
obvious explanation of her conduct is not the altruistic impulse.
"Ah, well now, there's a good deal to be said about that," Ralph
rejoined.
"There may be, but that's the principal thing. I must say I think it
looks very exclusive, going round all alone, as if you thought no
woman was good enough for you.
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