35
	But jealous � and of Me!
ceived with kindness and good-breeding.     I
had to keep silent where I could have given
testimony on her side only by betraying her con-
fidence, paining Haney, as I should have done,
by letting him see that I had talked over his
affair with her.    Perhaps, in his position, he
cannot estimate her other than he does � neither
can I.       And he must dislike if not resent
her confidences with me, say what he will,
and struggle as he will against it.         I remind-
ed him of my avowed engagement with Hannah,
and urged that that ought to have preserved me,
from suspicion � that he had supposed me of
a butter-like consistency, to be moulded into a
new and dishonest shape by a pleasant girl�s
fingers.      He denied that; said �I don�t say
that you are in love with her, or she with you�
� only we mightn�t calculate consequences.  Before
that he had stated that she had an immense
admiration for my intellect.    He couldn�t tell
me all, he said, about his wooing.   �You would
never have suited each other,� I said; �you�d
better have fallen in love with Matty.� �Better
with none of them,� he answered, though he thought
Matty would make the best wife.     If ever he
married it must be with some American girl.   His
accent pained me here, though I could not help