Page:A strange, sad comedy (IA strangesadcomedy00seawiala).pdf/57

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A STRANGE, SAD COMEDY
45

ment, of which she nevertheless believed not one word. Farebrother, who had seen something of Southern girls, very quickly and accurately guessed that it was the sort of thing Letty had been used to. But he was amused and charmed to find, that along with the most inveterate and arrant coquetry, she combined a modesty that amounted to prudery, and a reserve of manner in certain respects which kept him at an inexorable distance. He could whisper soft nonsense in Letty's ear all day long, and she would listen with an artless enjoyment that was inexpressibly diverting to Farebrother. But when he once attempted to touch her hand in putting on her wrap, Letty turned on him with an angry stare that disconcerted him utterly. It was not the surprise of an ignorant girl, but the thorough resentment of an offended woman. Farebrother took care not to transgress in that way again.

Letty fully expected him to express rapturous delight at her announcement, and was not disappointed. "It 's very strange," she continued, twirling her parasol and leaning forward in her chair; "grandpapa's father lent some money a long time ago,—I think the Corbins got some money by hook or by crook