precedence with my right?—shall my heart quarrel with my pulse?—shall my veins be jealous of the blood which fills them?"
"Men and women, husbands and wives quarrel horribly, Shirley."
"Poor things!—poor, fallen, degenerate things! God made them for another lot—for other feelings."
"But are we men's equals, or are we not?"
"Nothing ever charms me more than when I meet my superior—one who makes me sincerely feel that he is my superior."
"Did you ever meet him?"
"I should be glad to see him any day: the higher above me, so much the better: it degrades to stoop—it is glorious to look up. What frets me is, that when I try to esteem, I am baffled: when religiously inclined, there are but false gods to adore. I disdain to be a Pagan."
"Miss Keeldar, will you come in? We are here at the Rectory gates."
"Not to-day; but to-morrow I shall fetch you to spend the evening with me. Caroline Helstone—if you really are what at present to me you seem—you and I will suit. I have never in my whole life been able to talk to a young lady as I have talked to you this morning. Kiss me—and good-bye."
Mrs. Pryor seemed as well-disposed to cultivate Caroline's acquaintance as Shirley. She, who went nowhere else, called on an early day at the Rectory.
