"Alice," he said, "your greeting to me is hardly all that I had hoped."
"Is it not?" said she. "Indeed, George, I am sorry that you should be disappointed; but what can I say? You would not have me affect a lightness of spirit which I do not feel?"
"If you wish," said he, very slowly,--"if you wish to retract your letter to me, you now have my leave to do so."

"Alice," he said, "your greeting to me is hardly all that I had hoped."
"Is it not?" said she. "Indeed, George, I am sorry that you should be disappointed; but what can I say? You would not have me pretend a lightness of spirit which I do not feel?"
"If you wish to retract your letter," said he, very slowly, "you now have my leave to do so."
