e it.

Indeed, in the latter respect Rose's temper had had a good result.
Antony would have neither wine nor liquor of any kind in his house,
and as Rose refused to visit, her opportunities for indulging the
taste were limited. She did not appear to mind this deprivation as
much as might have been expected. Her insane indulgence of temper
swallowed up every other vice. She had drunk mainly to induce that
exhilaration which she fancied added so much to her beauty, and to
excite that boundless flow of repartee which made her the center of a
crowd of silly young men who liked to have their small wits tickled,
and who hoarded her jokes to retail as their own.

She had now no little circle to entertain; she did not care to please
any one in Woodsome; she even took a pleasure in displeasing Antony,
and her one daily excitement was to try to meet Yanna and Miss Alida
driving, and embarrass their movements, or pass them with insolent
disdain. Peter Van Hoosen was the only person she treated with her old
kindness and charm. To him she was gentle and sad, and one morning
she wandered an hour with him in his garden, listening to his words
of comfort about little Emma, until they were both ready to weep. So
that when Peter saw his son next, he spoke sharply to him about Rose,
and frankly told him he was not worthy to have the charge of such a
little, proud, sensitive heart; indeed, Peter was quite sure that Rose
would have been an excellent wife under such guidance as he would have
given her.

So the summer went away and Rose had the satisfaction of feeling that
she had made all her friends as wretched as she had made herself. Yet
there was no apparent effort to do this; and there was no need of
effort; for the power of those indirect influences which distil from a
life are greater than effort, and Rose had only to wander about the
house and grounds, a picture of woe, lonely and uncomplaining, to
destroy the summer sunshine and set every one on the edge of
quarreling about her. For she had really a strong personality, and her
unhappy moods affected the household as perceptibly as rain affects
the atmosphere.

For weeks Antony endeavored to understand and conquer this attitude.
He followed her in her lonely walks, and she listened to what he said
as if she heard him not. Or she permitted him to walk at her side, and
yet behaved precisely as if he were not there. If he visited her in
her own apartment, she made him just the same