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THE EUROPEANS.
[CH.
"Are they the things you talk about with your cousin?"
"You should not say things to me against my cousin, Mr. Brand," said Gertrude. "That is dishonourable."
He listened to this respectfully; then he answered, with a little vibration of the voice, "I should be very sorry to do anything dishonourable. But I don't see why it is dishonourable to say that your cousin is frivolous."
"Go and say it to himself!"
"I think he would admit it," said Mr. Brand. "That is the tone he would take. He would not be ashamed of it."
"Then I am not ashamed of it!" Gertrude declared. "That is probably
