nity aside,
she could not help but know that no woman in that region--not even
Pocahontas Mason--was her peer in beauty, wit, or accomplishments.
What had she to fear, with habit and contrast both in her favor? Norma
neglected to provide against one subtle and most powerful
element--novelty.

For the past few weeks, first one thing, then another; trifles light as
air, but forging a chain heavy enough to link suspicion with certainty,
had filled the girl with the old fever of unrest. Was she never to be
at rest? Would the glory of the past never shine upon the present?

Like most women who allow their minds to dwell constantly on one theme,
Norma exaggerated the past. When she first left school there had been
a little semi-sentiment and a good deal of rather warm cousinly
attentions on Thorne's part, but without serious intention. As has
been stated, Thorne liked women; he sought their society and was apt to
endeavor to awaken their interest, to gain their affection. He thought
that the restless craving of his nature was for love to be given him.
It was not. It was the wild passion in his breast seeking to give
_itself_. What he needed was not more love drawn into the reservoir of
his heart, but an outlet for that already accumulated. This he had
never had since he had reached manhood, save only in his affection for
his child, and that was as yet too small a channel to afford vent for
the power of love behind. And so it came to pass that in his need for
an outlet, he had made a great deal of love to a great many women, and
had looked more than he made.

As Norma budded into beautiful womanhood, he had been attracted by her,
and had yielded to the attraction, intending no harm but accomplishing
a good deal. He had liked and admired his cousin then, and in exactly
the same manner and degree, he liked and admired her now.

To the young lady, the affair wore a totally different aspect; the
flirtation, which had meant nothing to him and had been long ago
effaced from his memory, meant every thing of value on earth to _her_,
and was as fresh in her mind as though the years that had passed had
been days or hours. Thorne's marriage had been a great blow to
her--great and unexpected. She had observed his attentions to Ethel
Ross, and raged at them in secret; but she had seen him equally devoted
to a score of other women, and the devotion had been evanescent; with
her rage and jealousy, had mingled no definite ala