'You have let her suppose,' I said, 'that
you were thinking of me, and the poor girl has been jealous of me. I
know it, but from nothing she herself has said. She has said nothing;
she has been too proud and too considerate. If you don't think that 's
to her honor, I do. She has had a chance every day for a week, but she
has treated me without a grain of spite. I have appreciated it, I have
understood it, and it has touched me very much. It ought to touch you,
Mr. Wright. When she heard I was engaged to Mr. Longueville, it gave her
an immense relief. And yet, at the same moment you were protesting, and
denouncing, and saying those horrible things about her! I know how she
appears--she likes admiration. But the admiration in the world which she
would most delight in just now would be yours. She plays with Captain
Lovelock as a child does with a wooden harlequin, she pulls a string
and he throws up his arms and legs. She has about as much intention
of eloping with him as a little girl might have of eloping with a
pasteboard Jim Crow. If you were to have a frank explanation with her,
Blanche would very soon throw Jim Crow out of the window. I very humbly
entreat you to cease thinking of me. I don't know what wrong you have
ever done me, or what kindness I have ever done you, that you should
feel obliged to trouble your head about me.
Pages:
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331