added she, opening the bill: "I will pay it for you."
"Give it me!" exclaimed Walter, angrily, colouring even a deeper red. "I wish you would not open my letters."
"I am so rich to-day," said she, laughing; "and what makes me in a good humour, puts you in a bad one. Come, come, be a good child; leave the affair in my hands, and you shall be plagued no more about the matter."
"Lavinia," replied he, taking the bill from her, "there are obligations which it is an affront to offer."
He was right in his refusal. Sooner or later a woman must inevitably despise the man who takes money from her. Before a man can do this, there must be those radical defects of character to which even kindness cannot always be blind. He must be a moral coward, because he exposes her to those annoyances which he has not courage enough to face himself; he must be mean, because he submits to an obligation from the inferior and
