'Your heart ought to have assured you,' said the lady.
'The tongue is a less deceptive organ than the heart,' replied her
companion.
'Cadurcis,' said the lady, looking at her strange disguise, 'what do
you advise me to do?'
'To go home; and if you like I will order my vis-a-vis for you
directly,' and he rose from his seat to give the order.
'Ah!' you are sighing to get rid of me!' said the lady, in a
reproachful, but still subdued tone.
'Why, the fact is, Gertrude, I prefer calling upon you, to your
calling upon me. When I am fitted for your society, I seek it; and,
when you are good-tempered, always with pleasure; when I am not in the
mood for it, I stay away. And when I am at home, I wish to see no one.
I have business now, and not very agreeable business. I am disturbed
by many causes, and you could not have taken a step which could have
given me greater annoyance than the strange one you have adopted this
evening.'
'I am sorry for it now,' said the lady, weeping. 'When shall I see you
again?'
'I will call upon you to-morrow, and pray receive me with smiles.'
'I ever will,' said the lady, weeping plenteously. 'It is all my
fault; you are ever too good. There is not in the world a kinder and
more gentle being than yourself.
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