But, if you wish,
I will pretend. What important matter was settled in the study
this morning?"
"Hesper, you provoke me with your affectation!"
Hesper's eyes began to flash. Otherwise she was still--silent--
not a feature moved. The eyes are more untamable than the tongue.
When the wild beast can not get out at the door, nothing can keep
him from the windows. The eyes flash when the will is yet lord
even of the lines of the mouth. Not a nerve of Hesper's quivered.
Though a mere child in the knowledge that concerned her own
being, even the knowledge of what is commonly called the heart,
she was yet a mistress of the art of self-defense, socially
applied, and she would not now put herself at the disadvantage of
taking anything for granted, or accept the clearest hint for a
plain statement. She not merely continued silent, but looked so
utterly void of interest, or desire to speak, that her mother,
recognizing her own child, and quailing before the evil spirit
she had herself sent on to the generations to come, yielded and
spoke out.
"Mr. Redmain has proposed for your hand, Hesper," she said, in a
tone as indifferent in her turn as if she were mentioning the
appointment of a new clergyman to the family living.
For one moment, and one only, the repose of Hesper's faultless
upper lip gave way; one writhing movement of scorn passed along
its curves, and left them for a moment straightened out--to
return presently to a grander bend than before.
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