At length she went, and the parties were alone. As she had
desired the interview, it was her place to speak first. After a pause
and several efforts, she, with some trepidation, said that she feared
the letter which she had writen had not been expressed in terms
sufficiently polite and respectful; she had wished an opportunity to
apologize; and here she stuck. Reubon ought in mercy and in politeness
to have taken up the conversation; but he, expecting no such thing,
was taken by surprise, and remained dumb, with a kind of half grin.
The duette, at this moment, would have made a charming subject for the
pencil of Vanderlyn. Celeste was profoundly occupied in tearing up
some roses which she held in her hand, and Reubon was equally
industrious in twirling his hat, and pinching some new corners and
angles in the brim. At length he recovered himself so far as to gain
utterance. He denied, plumply, that there was want of politeness or
respect in the letter; and, after many awkward detours and
half-finished sentences, he said he would return the letter, and would
consider it as cancelling the determination which it contained, and
proposed to call on her in the country to-morrow morning to renew his
suit. This was _faintly_ opposed. He changed the course of
conversation, without insisting on a formal permission or refusal, and
then went into the subject of celibacy and matrimony, and passed an
hour tete-a-tete.
Pages:
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840