Oh, Miss Heath! you ought to do it: you
ought to make her marry Mr. Hammond at once."
"My dear Priscilla!" Miss Heath's face turned crimson. "Are you
alluding to Geoffrey Hammond? I know great friends of his; he is one
of the cleverest men at St. Hilda's."
"Yes, and one of the best," pursued Prissie, clasping her hands and
speaking in that excited way which she always did when quite carried
out of herself. "You don't know how good he is, Miss Heath. I think he
is one of the best of men. I would do anything in the world for him--
anything."
"Where have you met him, Priscilla?"
"At the Marshalls', and once at the Elliot-Smiths', and to-day, when I
was so miserable, when the bogie ran after me, you know, at St.
Hilda's, just outside the chapel. Mr. Hammond asked me to come to the
service, and I went, and afterward he chased the bogie away. Oh, he is
good, he is kind and he loves Maggie with all his heart. He has loved
her for a long time, I am sure, but she is never nice to him."
"Then, of course," said Miss Heath, "if Miss Oliphant does not care
for Mr. Hammond, there is an end of the matter. You are a very
innocent and very young girl, Priscilla; but this is a subject in
which you have no right to interfere. Far from me to say that I
disapprove of marriage for our students, but, while at St.
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