"I don't expect to convert you in a single lesson.

Will you not sit down with us, Miss Phebe?
You look tired." "Not just yet, thank you." "And why not ?" asked Gerald.
"I want to see a little after Miss Delano first.

She's off there all alone hunting for ferns." "Well," persisted Gerald, "what of it?
Are you fonder of her society than ours, that you must run after her ?" "I am not fonder of any one's society than of yours, Gerald." "But are you fond of that tiresome creature at all?
Confess it; doesn't she bore you to death with her interminable grasshopper chatter ?" Phebe glanced at Halloway, and laughed a little as she moved away.
"Oh, I am learning by degrees not to be bored by people,--not even by Miss Delano." "Now, will any one explain why she should wish to teach herself _not_ to know a bore from a Christian ?" exclaimed Gerald, impatiently.

"It is quite beyond me." "But do you really never talk to anybody unless you want to, Miss Vernor ?" asked Bell, disagreeably conscious that Gerald had not voluntarily addressed her once that morning.
"Never," replied Gerald, staring out at the lake.
"Don't you ever do any thing you don't want to, because you ought to ?" "I don't always see the ought.

For instance, why should I put myself out to entertain Miss Delano as Phebe does ?" "I don't know," muttered Bell.