“What! Miss Floss, never! I’ll tell you the whole story, Miss Mackenzie; and if you want to ask any one else, you can ask Mrs Perch.” Mrs Perch was the coachbuilder’s wife. “You’ve seen Miss Floss at Mrs Stumfold’s, and must know yourself whether I ever noticed her any more than to be decently civil.”

“Is she the lady that’s so thin and tall?”

“Yes.”

“With the red hair?”

“Well, it’s sandy, certainly. I shouldn’t call it just red myself.”

“Some people like red hair, you know,” said Miss Mackenzie, thinking of the suitable lady. Miss Mackenzie was willing at that moment to forfeit all her fortune if Miss Floss was not older than she was! “And that is Miss Floss, is it?”

“Yes, and I don’t blame Mrs Stumfold for wishing to get a husband for her friend, but it is hard upon me.”

“Really, Mr Maguire, I think that perhaps you couldn’t do better.”

“Better than what?”

“Better than take Miss Floss. As you say, some people like red hair. And she is very suitable, certainly. And, Mr Maguire, I really shouldn’t like to interfere;—I shouldn’t indeed.”

“Miss Mackenzie, you’re joking, I know.”

“Not in the least, Mr Maguire. You see there has been something about it.”

“There has been nothing.”

“There’s never smoke without fire; and I don’t think a lady like Mrs Stumfold would come here and tell me all that she did, if it hadn’t gone some way. And you owned just now that you admired her.”

“I never owned anything of the kind. I don’t admire her a bit. Admire her! Oh, Miss Mackenzie, what do you think of me?”

Miss Mackenzie said that she really didn’t know what to think.

Then, having as he thought altogether disposed of Miss Floss, he began again to press his suit. And she was weak; for though she gave him no positive encouragement, neither did she give him any positive denial. Her mind was by no means made up, and she did not know whether she wished to take him or to leave him. Now that the thing had come so near, what guarantee had she that he would be good to her if she gave him everything that she possessed? As to her cousin John Ball, she would have had many guarantees. Of him she could say that she knew what sort of a man he was; but what did she know of Mr Maguire? At that moment, as he sat there pleading his own cause with all the eloquence at his command, she remembered that she did not even know his Christian name. He had always in her presence been called Mr Maguire. How could she say that she loved a man whose very name she had not as yet heard?

But still, if she left all her chances to run from her, what other fate would she have but that of being friendless all her life? Of course she must risk much if she was ever minded to change her mode of life. She had said something to him as to the expediency of there being money on both sides, but as she said it she knew that she would willingly have given up her money could she only have been sure of her man. Was not her income enough for both? What she wanted was companionship, and love if it might be possible; but if not love, then friendship. This, had she known where she could purchase it with certainty, she would willingly have purchased with all her wealth.