She had taken Mabel's information at its true worth,
which I fear was but small; but she felt annoyed that both Mabel and Mr.
Alwynn should have thought it necessary to warn her. As if, she said to
herself, she had not known! Really, she had not been born and bred in
Slumberleigh, nor had she lived there all her life. She had met men of
that kind before. She always liked them. Charles especially amused her,
and she could see that she amused him; and, now she came to think of it,
she supposed he had paid her a good deal of attention at Atherstone, and
perhaps he had not come over to Slumberleigh especially to see Mr.
Alwynn. It was as natural to men like Charles to be always interested
in some one, as it would be unnatural in others ever to be so, except as
the result of long forethought, and with a wedding-ring and a set of
bridesmaids well in view. But to attach any importance to the fact that
Charles liked to talk to her would have been absurd. With another man it
might have meant much; but she had heard of Charles and his misdoings
long before she had met him, and knew what to expect.
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