"Has she complained of me?"
"She told me she thinks there's something very low in the tone of
Europeans towards women."
"Does she call me a European?"
"One of the worst. She told me you had said to her something that an
American never would have said. But she didn't repeat it."
Ralph treated himself to a luxury of laughter. "She's an
extraordinary combination. Did she think I was making love to her?"
"No; I believe even Americans do that. But she apparently thought
you mistook the intention of something she had said, and put an unkind
construction on it."
"I thought she was proposing marriage to me and I accepted her.
Was that unkind?"
Isabel smiled. "It was unkind to me. I don't want you to marry."
"My dear cousin, what's one to do among you all?" Ralph demanded.
"Miss Stackpole tells me it's my bounden duty, and that it's hers,
in general, to see I do mine!"
"She has a great sense of duty," said Isabel gravely. "She has
indeed, and it's the motive of everything she says. That's what I like
her for. She thinks it's unworthy of you to keep so many things to
yourself. That's what she wanted to express. If you thought she was
trying to- to attract you, you were very wrong.
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