Faith laughed, as she replied: 

“Why, dear doctor, what would you have us do?  You never will propose; so you must not complain if you drive us poor girls to desperation.”

“You wicked little baggage, is this the way you laugh at the most constant of your admirers?  How many long years have I spent in your service, from the time I began with rocking your cradle, occasionally giving you, to sweeten your humors, a teaspoon of castor oil, or a half-dozen drops of elixir salutis, up to the present time, and thus you reward my devotion!  I begin to feel desperate, and have half a mind to transfer my affections to Anne Bernard.”

“Do not treat me so cruelly.  I assure you, my love increases every day.  Besides, you might find your perfidy punished by meeting a too formidable rival.”

“Ah, ha!  I understand.  Yet, I feel my chivalry a little roused at the idea of opposition.  But, on the whole, Faith, I will accept your pledge of affection, and stick to my colors like a man and a doctor.  And, to exhibit my confidence, you may, meanwhile, flirt in moderation with William Bernard.  You will get tired of it when the novelty wears off; so I shall escape, and it is better that you should tease him now than me hereafter.  But, dear me, here we are at your door.”

Mr. Armstrong and the minister had waited for them on the step, and the four entered together.  Shortly after Pownal arrived, and somewhat later the family of the Bernards.

We should deceive our readers if we left them to infer from the jesting talk of the doctor that any mutual attachment existed between Miss Armstrong and William Bernard.  It was because his suspicions were so vaguely expressed, and herself so unconscious of any feelings of the kind, that Faith had not thought it worth while to notice them.  She and young Bernard had known each other from infancy; they had attended the same school; the intimacy betwixt Faith and Anne, and the friendly relations of the two families equals in wealth and station, had brought them frequently together, but nothing could be further from the fact than that any engagement existed between them.  They treated one another, indeed, like brother and sister; but if any warmer emotion was felt, it was not by Faith.  Her engrossing affection for her father seemed to exclude all rivalship.  The meeting exactly expressed the footing on which the families stood.  Mr. Armstrong shook hands cordially with all, and in a few words uttered his pleasure at welcoming them; Mrs Bernard kissed the cheek of Faith, with almost the feeling of a mother; the greeting of the girls’ was like that of sisters, and Faith extended her hand to William Bernard, with a smile, but without a blush.