urmured
Miss Amanda. 'You were nearly grown up at that time, but you really
behaved more like a boy than a man, and that was one reason I was so
fond of you.')

"'I had a good many plans for freeing my Aunt Amanda from the clutches
of Mr. Bridges; but the best of them, and the one I finally determined
upon, pleased me very much because it was romantic and adventurous. It
seemed to me the best way to prevent Mr. Bridges from marrying my Aunt
Amanda was to make him marry some one else, and I thought I could do
this. There was a girl named Rebecca Hendricks, who lived about a mile
from our house, with whom I was very well acquainted. She was a
first-class girl in many ways.' ('I would like to know what they were!'
exclaimed Miss Amanda. 'I think she was about sixth-class, no matter how
you looked at her.') 'For one thing, she was very plucky, and ready for
any kind of fun. I knew she liked Mr. Bridges, because I had heard her
say so, and her praise of him had frequently annoyed me very much; for
I did not want a friend of mine, as she professed to be, to think
favorably in any way of such a man as Garrett Bridges. But things were
now getting serious, and I did not hesitate to sacrifice my feelings for
the sake of my Aunt Amanda. I was always ready to do that.' ('Not
always, my boy,' thought Miss Amanda; 'not always, I am afraid.') 'So I
resolved to get up a match between Rebecca and Garrett Bridges. As I
thought over the matter, it seemed to me that they were exactly suited
to each other.' ('That's queer!' thought Miss Amanda. 'I always supposed
you thought she was exactly suited to you.') 'Of course I could not say
anything to Bridges about the matter, but I went over to Rebecca, and
told her the whole plan. She laughed at me, and said it was all pure
nonsense, and that if she were going to marry at all she would a great
deal rather marry me than Mr. Bridges. But I told her seriously it was
of no use to think of me. In the first place, I was four years younger
than she was; and then, I had made up my mind never to marry, no, never,
as long as my Aunt Amanda lived. I was going to take care of her when
she grew elderly, and I wanted nobody to interfere with that purpose.'
('You dear boy!' said Miss Amanda, with a sort of choke in her
affectionate consciousness. 'That is so like you--so like you! And yet I
thought you were in love with that Rebecca.') 'Of course I did not give
up my plan because she talked in that way,' cont