As she paused, he softly clapped his hands, saying, with a smile that made her eyes flash: 

“Very well done! infinitely superior to your ‘Woffington,’ Miss Devon.  I am disappointed in the woman, but I make my compliment to the actress, and leave the stage free for another and a more successful Romeo.”  Still smiling, he bowed and went away apparently quite calm and much amused, but a more wrathful, disappointed man never crossed those sands than the one who kicked his dog and swore at himself for a fool that day when no one saw him.

For a minute Christie stood and watched him, then, feeling that she must either laugh or cry, wisely chose the former vent for her emotions, and sat down feeling inclined to look at the whole scene from a ludicrous point of view.

“My second love affair is a worse failure than my first, for I did pity poor Joe, but this man is detestable, and I never will forgive him that last insult.  I dare say I was absurdly tragical, I’m apt to be when very angry, but what a temper he has got!  The white, cold kind, that smoulders and stabs, instead of blazing up and being over in a minute.  Thank Heaven, I’m not his wife!  Well, I’ve made an enemy and lost my place, for of course Mrs. Saltonstall won’t keep me after this awful discovery.  I’ll tell her at once, for I will have no ‘little secrets’ with him.  No Paris either, and that’s the worst of it all!  Never mind, I haven’t sold my liberty for the Fletcher diamonds, and that’s a comfort.  Now a short scene with my lady and then exit governess.”

But though she laughed, Christie felt troubled at the part she had played in this affair; repented of her worldly aspirations; confessed her vanity; accepted her mortification and disappointment as a just punishment for her sins; and yet at the bottom of her heart she did enjoy it mightily.

She tried to spare Mr. Fletcher in her interview with his sister, and only betrayed her own iniquities.  But, to her surprise, Mrs. Saltonstall, though much disturbed at the discovery, valued Christie as a governess, and respected her as a woman, so she was willing to bury the past, she said, and still hoped Miss Devon would remain.

Then Christie was forced to tell her why it was impossible for her to do so; and, in her secret soul, she took a naughty satisfaction in demurely mentioning that she had refused my lord.

Mrs. Saltonstall’s consternation was comical, for she had been so absorbed in her own affairs she had suspected nothing; and horror fell upon her when she learned how near dear Philip had been to the fate from which she jealously guarded him, that his property might one day benefit the darlings.

In a moment every thing was changed; and it was evident to Christie that the sooner she left the better it would suit madame.  The proprieties were preserved to the end, and Mrs. Saltonstall treated her with unusual respect, for she had come to honor, and also conducted herself in a most praiseworthy manner.  How she could refuse a Fletcher visibly amazed the lady; but she forgave the slight, and gently insinuated that “my brother” was, perhaps, only amusing himself.