icroscopically small, only made
the matter worse; if she had enough of refinement to make them so
delicate, she should have had enough to not make them at all. It was
characteristic of this man that he never at such times thought that the
offender might be actuated by a real liking for himself--himself apart
from this millstone of his excellent reputation and wealth; this was a
feature of the personal modesty that belonged to him. A man less modest
(that is, the great majority of men), placed in a position similar to
his, would have been troubled by no such poverty of imagination.

It must, however, be added that this modesty of Winthrop's was strictly
one of his inner feelings, not revealed to the world at large. The world
never suspected it, and had no reason for suspecting it; it had, indeed,
nothing to do with the world, it was a private attribute. To the world
he was a cool, quiet man, equally without pretensions and without
awkwardnesses. One could not have told whether he thought well of
himself--especially well--or not.

Why this man, so fully belonging to this busy, self-asserting nineteenth
century, should have preserved so much humility in the face of his
successes--success of fortune, of equilibrium, of knowledge, of
accomplishment of purpose, of self-control--this would have been,
perhaps, a question for the student of heredity. Was it a trait
inherited from Puritan ancestors, some Goodman Winthrop of gentle
disposition, a man not severe in creed or demeanor, nor firm in
exterminating Indians, and therefore of small consequence in his day and
community, and knowing it? Or was it a tendency inherited from some
Dutch ancestress on the maternal side, some sweet little flaxen-haired
great-grandmother, who had received in her maiden breast one of those
deadly though unseen shafts--the shaft of slight--from which a woman's
heart never wholly recovers?

But mental organizations are full of contradictions; looked at in
another way, this deep, unexpressed personal humility in Evert
Winthrop's nature, underneath his rather cold exterior, his keen mind
and strong will, might almost have been called a pride, so high a demand
did it make upon life. For if one has not attractive powers, love, when
it does come, when it is at last believed in, has a peculiarly rich
quality: it is so absolutely one's own!

The father of Evert Winthrop, Andrew Winthrop, was called eccentric
during all his life. But it was an eccentricit