Marmaduke's frank face grew gloomy. "Alas! dear foster-brother," he
said, dropping the somewhat affected tone in which he had before
spoken, "I must confess to my shame, that I cannot yet get the damsel
out of my thoughts, which is what I consider it a point of manhood and
spirit to achieve."

"How so?"

"Because, when a maiden chooseth steadily to say nay to your wooing,
to follow her heels, and whine and beg, is a dog's duty, not a man's."

"What!" exclaimed Alwyn, in a voice of great eagerness, "mean you to
say that you have wooed Sibyll Warner as your wife?"

"Verily, yes!"

"And failed?"

"And failed."

"Poor Marmaduke!"

"There is no 'poor' in the matter, Nick Alwyn," returned Marmaduke,
sturdily; "if a girl likes me, well; if not, there are too many others
in the wide world for a young fellow to break his heart about one.
Yet," he added, after a short pause, and with a sigh,--"yet, if thou
hast not seen her since she came to the court, thou wilt find her
wondrously changed."