The widow's bright hazel eyes dilated with surprise for a moment, and then their white lids and long silky lashes drooped, as if to veil the amusement that sparkled in them, as she withdrew her hand, of which Jerry had possessed himself, and said-- 'Oh, Mr. Wilmot, are you in earnest?' 'Could I dare to be anything else in addressing you thus? Earnest--can you ask me!--always when with you, and you know how much I love you. Will you marry me?' 'My dear Jerry, don't be foolish! You are but a boy compared with me, in my experience as a woman of the world especially. It is too absurd!' 'If you are older than me at all, it can only be by a year or two,' said Jerry, who thought it was not such a difficult matter to propose as he had first deemed it; 'and so, dearest Laura----' 'You must not address me thus.' 'But don't you call me Jerry?' 'There is a difference, and I may never do so again.' 'Don't say so; besides you cannot help me thinking of you as "Laura"?' 'Thought is free, but speech is not.' 'You will ever be Laura in my thoughts and in my heart, whatever you may be on my lips.' Jerry said this with so much emotion that Mrs. Trelawney ceased to laugh at him, and gave her hand, saying, 'Jerry, let us be friends; be assured we can be nothing more, and, indeed, nothing better.' Jerry retained her soft hand lovingly, and, taking heart of grace therefrom, said, 'I shall speak of this matter again, Laura. I see that I quite deserve your refusal.' 'Why?' 'Because I spoke too soon--too abruptly.' 'Believe me, dear Jerry, my answer is a final one. I could never bestow on you the love a wife should feel for her husband.' 'That would come in time--after marriage, Laura.' 'No, it cannot be; leave me and forget me.' 'That is impossible. I shall never, while life lasts, forget you.' Mrs. Trelawney felt an inclination to laugh again. She controlled her lips, but her half-closed eyes were sparkling with a smile. 'I am unworthy the regard I have won. Thrust me from your thoughts, Jerry, and forget me, I pray you, forget me,' said she, emphatically, as she again withdrew her hand. 'I have been a fool!' exclaimed Jerry, bitterly, as he twisted his dark moustache and betrayed considerable emotion, at least for him. 'Oh, no,' said Mrs. Trelawney, patting his shoulder with her fan. 'You are no worse than other men. You could not help it, if I was silly enough to be--shall I say it?--amused, perhaps pleased, by all your tender speeches, though I could not believe in them.' Jerry stared at her in doubt whether to be indignant or not, but again her beauty and _espieglerie_ of manner triumphed. 'Oh, Laura, once again,' he was resuming, when she interrupted him-- 'I know all you would say, but please not to renew this subject, or I shall lose all faith in you, Captain Wilmot.' 'Say "Jerry,"' he urged.