'I am not so indifferent to her as she believes,' thought he to

himself. 'I do not give up hope.' Before a quarter of an hour was over, he had fallen into a way of

conversing with quiet sarcasm; speaking of life in London and

life in the country, as if he were conscious of his second

mocking self, and afraid of his own satire. Mr. Hale was puzzled.

His visitor was a different man to what he had seen him before at

the wedding-breakfast, and at dinner to-day; a lighter, cleverer,

more worldly man, and, as such, dissonant to Mr. Hale. It was a

relief to all three when Mr. Lennox said that he must go directly

if he meant to catch the five o'clock train. They proceeded to

the house to find Mrs. Hale, and wish her good-bye. At the last

moment, Henry Lennox's real self broke through the crust.

'Margaret, don't despise me; I have a heart, notwithstanding all

this good-for-nothing way of talking. As a proof of it, I believe

I love you more than ever--if I do not hate you--for the disdain

with which you have listened to me during this last half-hour.

Good-bye, Margaret--Margaret!'




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