"They did? Well, I think you're right about them--they are very 'horrid.' There is one thing I don't quite understand; what has possessed the younger one, at least, to entertain this sort of plan. She has had more than one offer since we've been abroad, that I know about. But I believe she has set her heart on being Jay's mamma." "It seems to me," said Missy, firing up, "that you have gained in self-esteem since you have been away. So many young women want to marry you!" "Only two, that I can feel absolutely certain of," he said, sitting down beside her again, and giving her a most confident, unembarrassed look. "I don't like you when you talk that way," she said, flushing, and pulling her cloak around her as if she were going away. "Why, haven't I eaten humble pie long enough? Sit still, Missy, don't go away yet. I have a great deal more to say to you." "I don't like to be called Missy; it isn't my name, to begin with, only a disrespectful sobriquet, and I haven't given you any right to speak to me in the way you do," said Missy, palpitating, as she tried to rise. "Yes, you have, you have said two things that committed you, besides all the emotion you showed when you saw me. You can't require me to misunderstand all that." "I don't require you to do anything but let me go away. I--the sun is setting. It is chilly. I want to go." "How do I know that you will let me go with you? It suits me well enough here. I want to talk to you. It is more than a year since I have had that pleasure. You haven't even told me if I can have the house. You used to be a very clever business woman, I remember. Are you going to make a sharp bargain with me?" "I don't care about the house; but I've told you this doesn't please me in the least." Then Mr. Andrews laughed a little. "Well, if you push me to it, I shall have to buy the house, and bring Flora here as mistress of it. I know you wouldn't like her as a neighbor, but I can't keep house alone--that was demonstrated long ago." "Mr. Andrews, I--I wish you would let me go. I am tired and I don't understand why you talk to me in this familiar and uncomfortable way." "I won't let you go from these steps, where the sun is still shining and where you won't get cold, till you surrender unconditionally; till you tell me that you love me, love,--remember, like is not the word at all,--and that you have loved me for a year or more; and that you will marry me, and make me happy, and pay me for the misery you have made me suffer." Surrender was not easy to a young woman who had had her own way so long--but once accomplished, she was very well contented with her conqueror, and forgot to resent his confidence in her affection. She forgot that the sun was going down so fast, and that there was danger of getting cold by staying out so late. It was twilight when they went up the steps of the Roncevalle house.