“I declare!” exclaimed Harry again, shortly after leaving her, “what a beauty that girl is! and how charming in conversation!”
“Yes!” replied Hesper earnestly, “and what is best of all, she is good as she is handsome.”
She spoke most sincerely, for she loved Juliana much, and the charity which thinketh no evil, shut out all feelings of jealousy or suspicion from her heart. Harry listened with much interest, as Hesper proceeded at still greater length to set forth the merits of Juliana, and at the conclusion, he simply remarked, that he was glad Hesper had so good a friend.
For the first two or three weeks after his arrival, Harry was quite a constant visitor at the residence of the Greysons, but when Hesper was busy about the house, he usually took Juliana out to ride, or sail, with him, and finally this became so frequent, that the village gossips took the matter up, and aunt Betsey came down to see about it. To her surprise, however, she found that Hesper did not feel anxious or troubled in the least, and therefore she set herself to work immediately, to make her so.
“I declare!” said she, after talking some time, “I don’t see how you can be so quiet and calm about it! Why, if it was me, I’d tear that girl’s eyes out.”
“That would not mend the matter,” said Hesper, carelessly. “If he likes her better than me, let him take her--that’s all.”
“And do you mean to say, you wouldn’t care one straw about it?” asked aunt Betsey.
“If I did, I shouldn’t tell any one,” said Hesper.
“But if you don’t look out for your rights in time, you will be an old maid, certain.”
“Well, what if I am?” was the quiet reply; “that will not hinder my usefulness.”
“Why Hesper Greyson!” exclaimed aunt Betsey. “It’s a horrible disgrace to be an old maid! I tell you, if I was a young girl, I would marry an Esquimaux or a Hottentot, rather than be one!”
“And as for me,” replied Hesper, “I would sooner lie down in my grave, than marry a man whom I did not sincerely love, or who did not thus love me.”
“Very well,” replied aunt Betsey, starting up, “I see that you have some mighty fine ideas on this subject. But let me tell you that if you won’t look out for your own interest in time, and turn out a poor, miserable old maid at last, you needn’t look to my husband for assistance--that’s all.”