"I'm not a bit blas," remarked Helena, "but I'd like to be engaged for a change--not to last, of course. Only I can't make up my mind which of the four; and whichever I choose the other three will be so disagreeable. If I could only let them know I didn't mean it,--at least wouldn't later,--but that would never do, because I shouldn't enjoy myself unless I really thought I was in earnest. Besides, I haven't been able to fall in love with any of them yet."
"You don't really mean what you say when you talk that way, do you, Helena?" asked Magdal**, with much concern. "It would be so--so unprincipled; and I can't bear to think that of you."
"But, 'L** dearest, I should be in earnest for the time being; I'm just talking from the outside, as it were. At the time I should think I really meant
