hecontinued，notknowingwhattosay，andfancyingthathisinconstancywasranklinginMrGibson’smind。’No！Idon’tsupposeyouhave。Don’tgoandfancyitisthatwhichisannoyingme。You’remistakenaboutMissKirkpatrick，however。Idon’tbelieveshecouldeverhavemeanttogiveyouencouragement！’MrCoxe’sfacegrewperceptiblypaler。Hisfeelings，ifevanescent，wereevidentlystrong。’Ithink，sir，ifyoucouldhaveseenher—Idon’tconsidermyselfvain，andmannerissodifficulttodescribe。Atanyrate，youcanhavenoobjectiontomytakingmychance，andspeakingtoher。’’Ofcourse，ifyouwon’tbeconvincedotherwise，Icanhavenoobjection。
Butifyou’lltakemyadvice，youwillspareyourselfthepainofarefusal。
Imay，perhaps，betrenchingonconfidence，butIthinkIoughttotellyouthatheraffectionsareotherwiseengaged。’’Itcannotbe！’saidMrCoxe。’MrGibson，theremustbesomemistake。I
havegoneasfarasIdarediiiexpressingmyfeelings，andhermannerhasbeenmostgracious。Idon’tthinkshecouldhavemisunderstoodmymeaning。
Perhapsshehaschangedhermind？Itispossiblethat，afterconsideration，shehaslearnttopreferanother，isitnot？’’By\"another，\"youmeanyourself，Isuppose。Icanbelieveinsuchinconstancy’