I led her back at last to her seat, and
beckoned Eunane to my side.
"Eveena," I said, "has been urging me to offer your friend yonder a
place in our household."
Though I could not see her face, the instant change in her attitude,
the eager movement of her hands, and the elastic spring that suddenly
braced her form, expressed her feeling plainly enough.
"It must be done, I suppose," I murmured rather to myself than to
them, as Eunane timidly put out her hand and gratefully clasped
Eveena's. "Well, it is to be done for you, and you must do it."
"How can I?" exclaimed Eunane in astonishment; and Eveena added, "It
is for you; you only can name your terms, and it would be a strange
slight to her to do so through us."
"I cannot help that. I will not 'act the lie' by affecting any
personal desire to win her, and I could not tell her the truth. Offer
her the same terms that contented the rest; nay, if she enters my
household, she shall not feel herself in a secondary or inferior
position."
This condition surprised even Eveena as much as my resolve to make her
the bearer of the proposal that was in truth her own.
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