"Well, I must say," she observed, "that if some men fought a little shyer than they do, I shouldn't mind it. You always _do_ have about half a dozen dangling around, who only bore you, and who will keep asking you to go to places, and sending you bouquets, and asking you to dance when they can't dance at all, and only tear your dress, and stand on your feet. If they would 'fight shy,' it would be splendid." To Miss Belinda, who certainly had never been guilty of the indecorum of having any member of the stronger sex "dangling about" at all, this was very trying. "My dear," she said, "don't say 'you always have;' it--it really seems to make it so personal." Octavia turned around, and fixed her eyes wonderingly upon her blushing countenance. For a moment she made no remark, a marvellous thought shaping itself slowly in her mind. "Aunt Belinda," she said at length, "did nobody ever"-- "Ah, no, my dear! No, no, I assure you!" cried Miss Belinda, in the greatest possible trepidation. "Ah, dear, no! Such--such things rarely--very rarely happen in--Slowbridge; and, besides, I couldn't possibly have thought of it. I couldn't, indeed!" She was so overwhelmed with maidenly confusion at the appalling thought, that she did not recover herself for half an hour at least. Octavia, feeling that it would not be safe to pursue the subject, only uttered one word of comment,-- "Gracious!" CHAPTER XIX. AN EXPERIMENT. Much to her own astonishment, Lucia found herself allowed new liberty. She was permitted to spend the afternoon frequently with Octavia; and on several occasions that young lady and Miss Bassett were invited to partake of tea at Oldclough in company with no other guest than Francis Barold. "I don't know what it means, and I think it must mean something," said Lucia to Octavia; "but it is very pleasant. I never was allowed to be so intimate with any one before." "Perhaps," suggested Octavia sagely, "she thinks, that, if you see me often enough, you will get sick of me, and it will be a lesson to you." "The more I see of you," answered Lucia with a serious little air, "the fonder I am of you. I understand you better. You are not at all like what I thought you at first, Octavia." "But I don't know that there's much to understand in me." "There is a great deal to understand in you," she replied. "You are a puzzle to me often. You seem so frank, and yet one knows so little about you after all. For instance," Lucia went on, "who would imagine that you are so affectionate?" "Am I affectionate?" she asked. "Yes," answered Lucia: "I am sure you are very affectionate. I have found it out gradually. You would suffer things for any one you loved." Octavia thought the matter over. "Yes," she said at length, "I would." "You are very fond of Miss Bassett," proceeded Lucia, as if arraigning her at the bar of justice. "You are _very_ fond of your father; and I am sure there are other people you are very fond of--_very_ fond of indeed."