"It was very foolish on my part," said her ladyship, complacently, without noticing the interruption, "to mention the subject to you at all. I have only succeeded in startling you. I ought to have left Captain Dayrell to plead his own cause with you. Gentlemen, on such occasions, are generally very eloquent after they have made the first plunge." "I am sorry that you should so persistently misunderstand me," said Eleanor, not without a touch of impatience. "You compel me to speak plainly, and in a way that is most repugnant to my feelings. Under no circumstances could I agree to become the wife of Captain Dayrell. And I trust there will be no necessity for his name ever to be mentioned between us again." Lady Dudgeon turned slowly on her chair, and surveyed Eleanor through her eye-glass as though she could hardly believe the evidence of her ears. "You cannot marry Captain Dayrell, Eleanor Lloyd?" she said, with some severity of tone. "May I ask what there is to prevent your marrying him? I hope there is no prior engagement in the case, of which I have been kept in ignorance." "Were I engaged to anyone, your ladyship would certainly not be kept in ignorance of the fact." "Instead of engagement, I ought, perhaps, to have used the word 'attachment.'" "Applied to me, one word would be just as incorrect as the other." "Then may I ask what particular objection you can have to receive the addresses of Captain Dayrell?" "My particular objection is that I could never care sufficiently for Captain Dayrell to become his wife." "I certainly gave you credit for more common sense, Eleanor, than to think that you would allow any foolish sentiment to stand in the way of your proper settlement in life. My theory is this--and I daresay, when you shall have lived as long in the world as I have, you will agree that it is by no means a bad theory--that any girl who has been correctly brought up, and whose affections have not been tampered with, can school herself; without much difficulty, to look with affectionate eyes on whatever suitor her relations or friends may offer to her notice as eligible, in their estimation, to make her happy: and a really good girl will always find half her own happiness in the knowledge that she is making others happy at the same time." "In a matter involving consequences so serious, I should prefer to make my own choice."