Mr. Green extended his hand, saying:  “I will bid you farewell, Mrs. Delano; for, under existing circumstances, it becomes necessary to deny myself the pleasure of again calling upon you.  I must seek to divert my mind by new travels, I hardly know where.  I have exhausted Europe, having been there three times.  I have often thought I should like to look on the Oriental gardens and bright waters of Damascus.  Everything is so wretchedly new, and so disagreeably fast, in this country!  It must be refreshing to see a place that has known no changes for three thousand years.”

They clasped hands with mutual adieus; and the unfortunate son of wealth, not knowing what to do in a country full of noble work, went forth to seek a new sensation in the slow-moving caravans of the East.

A few days afterward, when Flora returned from taking a lesson in oil-colors, she said:  “How do you suppose I have offended Mr. Green?  When I met him just now, he touched his hat in a very formal way, and passed on, though I was about to speak to him.”

“Perhaps he was in a hurry,” suggested Mrs. Delano.

“No, it wasn’t that,” rejoined Flora.  “He did just so day before yesterday, and he can’t always be in a hurry.  Besides, you know he is never in a hurry; he is too much of a gentleman.”

Her friend smiled as she answered, “You are getting to be quite a judge of aristocratic manners, considering you were brought up in a bird-cage.”

The young girl was not quite so ready as usual with a responsive smile.  She went on to say, in a tone of perplexity:  “What can have occasioned such a change in his manner?  You say I am sometimes thoughtless about politeness.  Do you think I have offended him in any way?”

“Would it trouble you very much if you had?” inquired Mrs. Delano.

“Not very much,” she replied; “but I should be sorry if he thought me rude to him, when he was so very polite to us in Europe.  What is it, Mamita?  I think you know something about it.”

“I did not tell you, my child,” replied she, “because I thought it would be unpleasant.  But you keep no secrets from me, and it is right that I should be equally open-hearted with you.  Did you never suspect that Mr. Green was in love with you?”

“The thought never occurred to me till he called here that first evening after his return from Europe.  Then, when he took my hand, he pressed it a little.  I thought it was rather strange in such a formal gentleman; but I did not mention it to you, because I feared you would think me vain.  But if he is in love with me, why don’t he tell me so?  And why does he pass me without speaking?”

Her friend replied:  “He deemed it proper to tell me first, and ask my consent to pay his addresses to you.  As he persisted very urgently, I thought it my duty to tell him, under the seal of secrecy, that you were remotely connected with the colored race.  The announcement somewhat disturbed his habitual composure.  He said he must deny himself the pleasure of calling again.  He proposes to go to Damascus, and there I hope he will forget his disappointment.”