... Selfishness. We all
think of ourselves--we can't help it; and that's what makes life so
miserable.... He would be a very good match. You have got him to like you.
Perhaps you didn't intend to; but you have done it all the same.'
'But, Emily dear, listen! There is no question of marriage between me and
Mr. Price. If you will only have patience, things will come right in the
end.'
'For you, perhaps.'
'Emily, Emily! ... You should try to understand things better.'
'I feel them, even if I don't understand.'
'Admit that you were wrong about the ring. Have I not convinced you that
you were wrong?'
Emily did not answer. But at the end of a long silence, in which she had
been pursuing a different train of thought, she said, 'Then you mean that
he has never asked you to marry him?'
The directness of the question took Julia by surprise, and, falsehood being
unnatural to her, she hesitated, hardly knowing what to answer. Her
hesitation was only momentary; but in that moment there came up such a wave
of pity for the grief-stricken girl that she lied for pity's sake, 'No, he
never asked me to marry him. I assure you that he never did. If you do not
believe me----' As she was about to say, 'I will swear it if you like,' an
irresponsible sensation of pride in her ownership of his love surged up
through her, overwhelming her will, and she ended the sentence, 'I am very
sorry, but I cannot help it.
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