heart: mind your pronouns, my dear; that makes all the difference. But, to be serious, tell me, do you really and bona fide, as my old uncle the lawyer used to say, love Mr. Vincent?"
"No," said Belinda, "I do not love him yet."
"But for that emphatic yet, how I should have worshipped you! I wish I could once clearly understand the state of your mind about Mr. Vincent, and then I should be able to judge how far I might indulge myself in raillery without being absolutely impertinent. So without intruding upon your confidence, tell me whatever you please."
"I will tell you all I know of my own mind," replied Belinda, looking up with an ingenuous countenance. "I esteem Mr. Vincent; I am grateful to him for the proofs he has given me of steady attachment, and of confidence in my integrity. I like his manners and the frankness of his temper; but I do not yet love him, and till I do, no earthly consideration could prevail upon me to marry him."
"Perfectly satisfactory, my dear Belinda; and yet I cannot be quite at ease whilst Mr. Vincent is present, and my poor Clarence absent: proximity is such a dangerous advantage even with the wisest of us. The absent lose favour so quickly in Cupid's court, as in all other courts; and they are such victims to false reports and vile slanderers!"
Belinda sighed.
"Thank you for that sigh, my dear," said Lady Delacour. "May I ask, would you, if you discovered that Mr. Vincent had a Virginia, discard him for ever from your thoughts?"
"If I discovered that he had deceived and behaved dishonourably to any woman, I certainly should banish him for ever from my regard."
"With as much ease as you banished Clarence Hervey?"
"With more, perhaps."
"Then you acknowledge—that's all I want—that you liked Clarence better than you do Vincent?"
"I acknowledge it," said Belinda, colouring up to her temples; "but that time is entirely past, and I never look back to it."
"But if you were forced to look back to it, my dear,—if Clarence Hervey proposed for you,—would not you cast a lingering look behind?"
"Let me beg of you, my dear Lady Delacour, as my friend," cried Belinda, speaking and looking with great earnestness; "let me beg of you