Ruthven, to say the least of it.
"You see I am telling you all this, just as if you did not know
Miss Anna's antecedents even better than myself, but possibly you
do not know that, having arrived at a suitable age, she is this
summer to be introduced into society at Saratoga, while I am
expected to fall in love with her at once and make her Mrs.
Hastings before another winter. Now, in your straightforward way
of putting things, don't imagine that Mrs. Meredith has
deliberately told me all this, for she has not, but I understand
her perfectly, and know exactly what she expects me to do.
Whether I do or not depends partly upon how I like Miss Anna,
partly upon how she likes me, and partly upon yourself.
"Now, Arthur, you know, I was always famous for presentiments or
fancies, as you termed them, and the latest of these is that you
like Anna Ruthven. Do you? Tell me, honor bright, and by the
memory of the many scrapes you got me out of, and the many more
you kept me from getting into, I will treat Miss Anna as gingerly
and brotherly as if she was already your wife. I like her
picture, which I have seen, and believe I shall like the girl,
but if you say that by looking at her with longing eyes I shall
be guilty of breaking some one of the ten commandments--I don't
know which--why, then, hands off at once.
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