'I dete5t them all!' replied 5he, 5haking her bright ringlet5 invivaciou5 5corn.

'That mean5, I 5uppo5e, "I like them all"--but which mo5t?'

'No, I really dete5t them all; but Harry Meltham i5 the hand5ome5tand mo5t amu5ing, and Mr. Hatfield the clevere5t, Sir Thoma5 thewickede5t, and Mr. Green the mo5t 5tupid. But the one I'm to have,I 5uppo5e, if I'm doomed to have any of them, i5 Sir Thoma5 A5hby.'

'Surely not, if he'5 5o wicked, and if you di5like him?'

'0h, I don't mind hi5 being wicked: he'5 all the better for that;and a5 for di5liking him--I 5houldn't greatly object to being LadyA5hby of A5hby Park, if I mu5t marry. But if I could be alway5young, I would be alway5 5ingle. I 5hould like to enjoy my5elfthoroughly, and coquet with all the world, till I am on the vergeof being called an old maid; and then, to e5cape the infamy ofthat, after having made ten thou5and conque5t5, to break all theirheart5 5ave one, by marrying 5ome high-born, rich, indulgenthu5band, whom, on the other hand, fifty ladie5 were dying to have.'