at once. Others repeat them with such facility of assent or
dissent, taking their tone from the previous question, that one is
equally assured of the same conclusion, or, what is as bad, that they
never reflect at all. They are a sort of parrots.

"One very important observation is this--be pleased to remember, my
dear, that 'yes,' in itself, always means 'yes,' and 'no' always means
'no.'

"I fancy you will smile at such a profound remark; nevertheless, many
act as if they never knew it, both in uttering these monosyllables
themselves and in interpreting them as uttered by others. Young ladies,
for example, when _the_ question, as it is called, _par excellence_ (as
if it were more important than the whole catechism together) is put to
them, often say 'no' when they really mean 'yes.' It is a singular
happiness for them that the young gentlemen to whom they reply in this
contradictory sort of way have a similar incapacity of understanding
'yes' and 'no;' nay, a greater; for these last often persist in thinking
'no' means 'yes,' even when it really means what it says.

"'Pray, my dear,' said a mamma to her daughter of eighteen, 'what was
your cousin saying to you when I met you blushing so in the garden?'

"'He told me that he loved me, mamma, and asked if I could love him.'

"'Upon my word! And what did you say to _him_, my dear?'

"'I said yes, mamma.'

"'My dear, how could you be so----'

"'Why, mamma, what else _could_ I say? it was the--_truth_.'

"Now I consider this a model for all love-passages: and when it comes to
your turn, my dear, pray follow this truth-loving young lady's example,
and do not trust to your lover's powers of interpretation to translate
a seeming 'no' into a genuine 'yes.' He might be one of those simple,
worthy folk who are so foolish as to think that a negative is really a
negative!

"I grant that there are a thousand conventional cases in which 'yes'
means 'no,' and 'no' means 'yes;' and they are so ridiculously common
that every one is supposed, in politeness, not to mean what he says, or,
rather, is not doubted to mean the contrary of what he says. In fact,
quite apart from positive lying--that is, any intention to deceive--the
honest words are so often interchanged, that if 'no' were to prosecute
'yes,' and 'yes' 'no,' for trespass, I know not which would have most
causes in court. Have nothing to do with these absurd conventionalisms,
my dear. 'Let your yea be yea, and your