nts a married pair
could make. The returns would be quick and large. I wonder more don't
deposit in this bank.
V
I had not forgotten Mr. Chance. This fact annoyed me excessively, since
I saw that he had forgotten me. A forgotten man may remember a woman,
and preserve his self-respect, if not his merriment; but when a
forgotten woman remembers a man, that is quite another thing. Not that I
was brooding over Mr. Chance--far from it; I thought very little of him,
in one way, for I frequently saw him with Miss Sprig; but in spite of
all that, I could not quite forget the impression he made upon me the
day those boys killed the gay little squirrel, and again the day the
poor mother went down into the deep, dark water with her child held
close to her agonized heart. The feeling I experienced for him on that
awful day, was unique in my history. I had never been an impressionable
girl as far as men were concerned--I was not an impressionable woman. For
me to carry the thought of a man home with me--for me to dwell upon this
thought, and above all to take pleasure in dwelling upon it, meant more
than it would have meant for some women. That was as far as the matter
had gone, but it was far enough--too far, considering his evident
indifference, and I was humiliated, for the first time in my life, over
my attitude toward a man. This mortification induced me to treat Mr.
Chance even more coldly than I should have done ordinarily, though his
trifling with Miss Sprig would have called forth some coolness of
conduct under any circumstances.
I had abundant opportunity to express myself in this way, for Mr.
Chance's night work necessitated late rising, and I saw him to speak to
him almost every morning. Indeed, I took some pains to be in my garden
during the forenoon, and from this vantage ground I could not only see
much that took place between himself and Miss Sprig, but I also had
opportunity to speak with him as he passed my house, on his way to the
train.
Sometimes Miss Sprig walked to the station with him. He evidently
absorbed much of her time and thought, and she evidently regarded him as
her latest victim, for she made him a common subject of talk, and her
entire acquaintance had the pleasure of hearing the foolish things he
did and said. She always represented him as deeply in love with her; I
have no doubt she really thought that he was.
For my own part, I cared very littl
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