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"I'm not a bit blase," 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 Magdalena, with much concern. "It would be so -- so unprincipled; and I can't bear to think that of you."