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diff --git a/22711-0.txt b/22711-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..07ede4c --- /dev/null +++ b/22711-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1461 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Love Story Reversed, by Edward Bellamy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Love Story Reversed + 1898 + +Author: Edward Bellamy + +Release Date: September 21, 2007 [EBook #22711] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LOVE STORY REVERSED *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +A LOVE STORY REVERSED + +By Edward Bellamy + +1898 + + + + +I + +The golden hands of the parlor clock point glimmeringly to an hour +after midnight, and the house is still. The gas is turned almost out, +but the flickering of the dying sea-coal fire in the grate fitfully +illumines the forms and faces of two young women, who are seated before +it, talking earnestly in low tones. It is apparent from their costumes +that they have been spending the evening out. + +The fair girl in the low chair, gazing pensively into the fire, is Maud +Elliott, the daughter of the house. Not generally called handsome, her +features are good and well balanced, and her face is altogether a sweet +and wholesome one. She is rather tall, and the most critical admit +that she has a fine figure. Her eyes are blue, and their clear, candid +expression indicates an unusually sincere and simple character. But, +unfortunately, it is only her friends who are fully conversant with the +expression of her eyes, for she is very shy. Shyness in little people +is frequently piquant, but its effect in girls of the Juno style is too +often that of awkwardness. Her friends call Maud Elliott stately; those +who do not like her call her stiff; while indifferent persons speak of +her as rather too reserved and dignified in manner to be pleasing. In +fact, her excess of dignity is merely the cloak of her shyness, and +nobody knows better than she that there is too much of it. Those +who know her at all well know that she is not dull, but with mere +acquaintances she often passes for that. Only her intimate friends are +aware what wit and intelligence, what warmth and strength of feeling, +her coldness when in company conceals. + +No one better understands this, because no one knows her better or +has known her longer, than her present companion before the fire, Lucy +Mer-ritt. They were roommates and bosom friends at boarding-school; and +Lucy, who recently has been married, is now on her first visit to her +friend since that event. She is seated on a hassock, with her hands +clasped over her knees, looking up at Maud,--an attitude well suited +to her _petite_ figure. She is going home on the morrow, or rather on +the day already begun; and this fact, together with the absorbing nature +of the present conversation, accounts for the lateness of the session. + +“And so, Maud,” she is saying, while she regards her friend with an +expression at once sympathetic and amused,--“and so that is what has +been making your letters so dismal lately. I fancied that nothing less +could suggest such melancholy views of life. The truth is, I came +on this visit as much as anything to find out about him. He is a +good-looking fellow, certainly; and, from what little chance I had +to form an opinion to-night, seems sensible enough to make it quite +incredible that he should not be in love with such a girl in a thousand +as you. Are you quite sure he is n't?” + +“You had a chance to judge to-night,” replied Maud, with a hard little +laugh. “You overheard our conversation. 'Good-evening, Miss Elliott; +jolly party, is n't it?' That was all he had to say to me, and quite +as much as usual. Of course we are old acquaintances, and he 's always +pleasant and civil: he couldn't be anything else; but he wastes mighty +little time on me. I don't blame him for preferring other girls' +society. He would show very little taste if he did not enjoy Ella +Perry's company better than that of a tongue-tied thing like me. She is +a thousand times prettier and wittier and more graceful than I am.” + +“Nonsense,” exclaimed Lucy. “She is a flirt and a conceited little minx. +She is not to be mentioned the same day with you; and he would think so, +if he could only get to know you. But how in the world is he ever going +to? Why, you seem to be shyer than ever, poor dear. You were actually +distant, almost chilling, in your manner towards him to-night, although +I know you didn't mean to be.” + +“I know it. Don't I know it!” groaned Maud. “I always am shyer and +stiffer with him than with any one else. O Lucy! you can't guess what +a dreadful thing it is to be shy. It is as if you were surrounded by a +fog, which benumbs you, and chills all who approach you. I dare say he +thinks that I actually dislike him. I could not blame him if he did. And +I can't help it. I could never make him understand anything else, unless +I told him in so many words.” + +The tears filled her eyes as she spoke, and hung heavy on the lashes. +Lucy took one of her hands in both of hers, and pressed and stroked it +caressingly. + +“I know you could n't, poor dear, I know you could n't,” she said; “and +you cannot tell him in so many words because, forsooth, you are a woman. +I often think, Maud, what a heap of trouble would be saved if women, +when they cannot make themselves understood in other ways, were allowed +to speak out as men do, without fear or reproach. Some day they will, +when the world gets wiser,--at least I think so. Why should a woman +have to hide her love, as if it were a disgraceful secret? Why is it any +more a disgrace to her than to a man?” + +“I can't quite see what good it would do me,” said Maud, “even if women +could 'speak out,' as you say. If a man did n't care for one already, +I can't see how it would make him know that one cared for him. I should +think she would prefer to keep her secret.” + +“That is n't what men do,” replied Lucy. “If they have such a secret, +they tell it right away, and that is why they succeed. The way half the +women are induced to fall in love is by being told the men are in love +with them; you know that.” + +“But men are different,” suggested Maud. + +“Not a bit of it: they 're more so, if anything,” was the oracular +response of the young wife. “Possibly there are men,” she continued,-- +“the story-tellers say so, anyhow,--who are attracted by repulsion and +warmed by coldness, who like resistance for the pleasure of overcoming +it. There must be a spice of the tyrant in such men. I wouldn't want to +marry one of them. Fortunately, they're not common. I've noticed that +love, like lightning, generally takes the path of least resistance with +men as well as women. Just suppose now, in your case, that Mr. Burton +had followed us home, and had overheard this conversation from behind +that door.” + +“No, no,” she added laughing, as Maud looked around apprehensively; “he +is n't there. But if he had been there and had overheard you own that +you were pining for him, what a lucky chance it would have been! If he, +or any other man, once knew that a magnificent girl like you had done +him the honor to fall in love with him, half the battle would be won, +or I 'm no judge of men. But such lucky eavesdropping only happens in +stories and plays; and for lack of it this youth is in a fair way to +marry a chit of a girl who does not think half so much of him as you do, +and of whom he will never think a quarter what he would of you. He is +not, probably, entirely stupid either. All he wants, very likely, is +just a hint as to where his true happiness lies: but, being a woman, you +can't give it in words; and, being Maud Elliott, you can't give it in +any other way, if you died for it. Really, Maud, the canon which +makes it a woman's duty to be purely passive in love is exasperating, +especially as it does not represent what anybody really believes, but +only what they pretend to believe. Everybody knows that unrequited love +comes as often to women as to men. Why, then, should n't they have an +equal chance to seek requital? Why have not they the same right to look +out for the happiness of their lives by all honorable means that men +have? Surely it is far more to them to marry the men they love than to +a man to marry any particular woman. It seems to me that making suitable +matches is not such an easy matter that society can afford to leave the +chief part of it to the stupider sex, giving women merely the right of +veto. To be sure, even now women who are artful enough manage to evade +the prohibition laid on their lips and make their preference known. I am +proud to say that I have a royal husband, who would never have looked +my way if I had not set out to make him do so; and if I do say it, who +should n't, I flatter myself he has a better wife than he could have +picked out without my help. There are plenty of women who can say the +same thing; but, unluckily, it is the best sort of women, girls like +you,--simple, sincere, noble, without arts of any sort,--who can't +do this. On them the etiquette that forbids women to reveal their hearts +except by subterfuge operates as a total disability. They can only +sit with folded hands, looking on, pretending not to mind, while their +husbands are run away with by others.” + +Maud took up the poker and carefully arranged the coals under the grate +in a heap. Then she said: “Suppose a girl did what you 've been speaking +of. I mean, suppose she really said such a thing to a man,--said that +she cared for him, or anything like that,--what do you suppose he +would think of her? Don't you fancy she would be in danger of making him +think very cheaply of her?” + +“If she thought he were that kind of a man,” replied Lucy, “I can't +understand her ever falling in love with him. Of course, I 'm not saying +that he would necessarily respond by falling in love with her. She would +have to take her chance of that; but I 'm sure, if he were a gentleman, +she need have no fear of his thinking unworthily of her. If I had spoken +to Dick in that way, even if he had never wanted to marry me, I know he +would have had a soft spot for me in his heart all the rest of his life, +out of which even his wife would not have quite crowded me. Why, how do +we think of men whom we have refused? Do we despise them? Do we ridicule +them? Some girls may, but they are not ladies. A low fellow might laugh +at a woman who revealed a fondness for him which he did not return; but +a gentleman, never. Her secret would be safe with him.” + +“Girls!” It was the voice of Mrs. Elliott speaking from the upper hall. +“Do you know how late it is? It is after one o'clock.” + +“I suppose we might as well go to bed,” said Lucy. “There's no use +sitting up to wait for women to get their rights. They won't get them +to-night, I dare say; though, mark my word, some day they will.” + +“This affair of yours may come out all right yet,” she said hopefully, +as they went upstairs together. “If it does not, you can console +yourself with thinking that people in general, and especially girls, +never know what is good for them till afterward. Do you remember that +summer I was at the beach, what a ninny I made of myself over that +little Mr. Parker? How providential it was for me that he did not +reciprocate. It gives me the cold shivers when I think what might have +become of me if he' had proposed.” + +At the door of her room Lucy said again: “Remember, you are to come to +me in New York for a long visit soon. Perhaps you will find there are +other people in the world then.” + +Maud smiled absently, and kissed her good-night. She seemed preoccupied, +and did not appear to have closely followed what her lively friend was +saying. + +The following afternoon, as she was walking home after seeing Lucy on +the cars, she met a gentleman who lifted his hat to her. It was Arthur +Burton. His office was on the one main street of the small New England +city which is the scene of these events, and when out walking or +shopping Maud often met him. There was therefore nothing at all +extraordinary in the fact of their meeting. What was extraordinary was +its discomposing effect upon her on this particular afternoon. She had +been absorbed a moment before in a particularly brown study, taking no +more notice of surrounding objects and persons than was necessary to +avoid accidents. On seeing him she started perceptibly, and forthwith +became a striking study in red. She continued to blush so intensely +after he had passed that, catching sight of her crimson cheeks in a shop +window, she turned down a side street and took a quieter way home. + +There was nothing particularly remarkable about Arthur Burton. +Fortunately there does not need to be anything remarkable about young +men to induce very charming girls to fall in love with them. He was just +a good-looking fellow, with agreeable manners and average opinions. He +was regarded as a very promising young man, and was quite a favorite +among the young ladies. If he noticed Maud's confusion on meeting him, +he certainly did not think of associating it in any way with himself. +For although they had been acquaintances these many years, and belonged +to the same social set, he had never entertained the first sentimental +fancy concerning her. So far as she had impressed him at all, it was as +a thoroughly nice girl, of a good family, not bad-looking, but rather +dull in society, and with very little facility in conversation; at least +he had always found it hard to talk with her. + +Ten days or a fortnight after Lucy Merritt's departure there was a +little party at Ella Perry's, and both Arthur Burton and Maud were +present. It was the custom of the place for the young men to escort +the girls home after evening entertainments, and when the couples were +rightly assorted, the walk home was often the most agreeable part of the +evening. Although they were not engaged, Arthur imagined that he was in +love with Ella Perry, and she had grown into the habit of looking +upon him as her particular knight. Towards the end of the evening he +jestingly asked her whom he should go home with, since he could not that +evening be her escort. + +“Maud Elliott,” promptly suggested Ella, selecting the girl of those +present in her opinion least likely to prove a diverting companion. So +it chanced that Arthur offered his company to Maud. + +It struck him, as she came downstairs with her wraps on, that she +was looking remarkably pale. She had worn a becoming color during the +evening, but she seemed to have lost it in the dressing-room. As they +walked away from the house Arthur began, to the best of his ability, to +make himself agreeable, but with very poor success. Not only was Maud, +as usual, a feeble contributor of original matter, but her random +answers showed that she paid little attention to what he was saying. +He was mentally registering a vow never again to permit himself to be +committed to a tête-à-tête with her, when she abruptly broke the silence +which had succeeded his conversational efforts. Her voice was +curiously unsteady, and she seemed at first to have some difficulty in +articulating, and had to go back and repeat her first words. What she +said was:-- + +“It was very good in you to come home with me to-night. It is a great +pleasure to me.” + +“You 're ironical this evening, Miss Elliott,” he replied, laughing, and +the least bit nettled. + +It was bore enough doing the polite to a girl who had nothing on her +mind without being gibed by her to boot. + +“I 'm not ironical,” she answered. “I should make poor work at irony. I +meant just what I said.” + +“The goodness was on your part in letting me come,” he said, mollified +by the unmistakable sincerity of her tone, but somewhat embarrassed +withal at the decidedly flat line of remark she had chosen. + +“Oh, no,” she replied; “the goodness was not on my side. I was only too +glad of your company, and might as well own it. Indeed, I will confess +to telling a fib to one young man who offered to see me home, merely +because I hoped the idea of doing so would occur to you.” + +This plump admission of partiality for his society fairly staggered +Arthur. Again he thought, “She must be quizzing me;” and, to make sure, +stole a sidelong glance at her. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead, and +the pallor and the tense expression of her face indicated that she was +laboring under strong excitement. She certainly did not look like one in +a quizzing mood. + +“I am very much flattered,” he managed to say. + +“I don't know whether you feel so or not,” she replied. “I'm afraid you +don't feel flattered at all, but I--I wanted to--tell you.” + +The pathetic tremor of her voice lent even greater significance to her +words than in themselves they would have conveyed. + +She was making a dead set at him. There was not a shadow of doubt any +longer about that. As the full realization of his condition flashed upon +him, entirely alone with her and a long walk before them, the strength +suddenly oozed out of his legs, he felt distinctly cold about the spine, +and the perspiration started out on his forehead. His tongue clung to +the roof of his mouth, and he could only abjectly wonder what was coming +next. It appeared that nothing more was coming. A dead silence lasted +for several blocks. Every block seemed to Arthur a mile long, as if he +were walking in a hasheesh dream. He felt that she was expecting him to +say something, to make some sort of response to her advances; but what +response, in Heaven's name, could he make! He really could not make +love. He had none to make; and had never dreamed of making any to Maud +Elliott, of all girls. Yet the idea of letting her suppose him such an +oaf as not to understand her, or not to appreciate the honor a lady's +preference did him, was intolerable. He could not leave it so. + +Finally, with a vague idea of a compromise between the impossible +alternative of making love to her, which he could n't, and seeming an +insensible boor, which he wouldn't, he laid his disengaged hand upon +hers as it rested on his arm. It was his intention to apply to it a +gentle pressure, which, while committing him to nothing, might tend to +calm her feelings and by its vaguely reassuring influence help to stave +off a crisis for the remainder of their walk. He did not, however, +succeed in carrying out the scheme; for at the moment of contact her +hand eluded his, as quicksilver glides from the grasp. There was no hint +of coquettish hesitation in its withdrawal. She snatched it away as +if his touch had burned her; and although she did not at the same +time wholly relinquish his arm, that was doubtless to avoid making the +situation, on the street as they were, too awkward. + +A moment before only concerned to evade her apparent advances, Arthur +found himself in the position of one under rebuke for offering an +unwarranted familiarity to a lady. There was no question that he had +utterly misconstrued her previous conduct. It was very strange that he +could have been such a fool; but he was quite too dazed to disentangle +the evidence just then, and there was no doubt about the fact. + +“Pardon me,” he stammered, too much overcome with confusion and chagrin +to be able to judge whether it would have been better to be silent. + +The quickness with which the reply came showed that she had been on the +point of speaking herself. + +“You need not ask my pardon,” she said. Her tones quivered with +excitement and her utterance was low and swift. “I don't blame you in +the least, after the way I have talked to you to-night. But I did not +mean that you should think lightly of me. I have said nothing right, +nothing that I meant to. What I wanted to have you understand was that I +care for you very much.” Her voice broke here, but she caught her breath +and went right on. “I wanted you to know it somehow, and since I could +not make you know it by ways clever girls might, I thought I would tell +you plainly. It really amounts to the same thing; don't you think so? +and I know you 'll keep my secret. You need n't say anything. I know you +'ve nothing to say and may never have. That makes no difference. You owe +me nothing merely because I care for you. Don't pity me. I'm not so much +ashamed as you 'd suppose. It all seems so natural when it's once said. +You need n't be afraid of me. I shall never say this again or trouble +you at all. Only be a little good to me; that's all.” + +She delivered this little speech almost in one breath, with headlong, +explosive utterance, as if it were something she had to go through +with, cost what it might, and only wanted somehow to get out the words, +regardless, for the time, of their manner or effect. She ended with +an hysterical sob, and Arthur felt her hand tremble on his arm as she +struggled with an emotion that threatened to overcome her. But it was +over almost instantly; and without giving him a chance to speak, she +exclaimed, with an entire alteration of tone and manner:-- + +“Did you see that article in the 'Gazette' this morning about the craze +for collecting pottery which has broken out in the big cities? Do you +suppose it will reach here? What do you think of it?” + +Now it was perfectly true, as she had told him, that Arthur had nothing +whatever to say in response to the declaration she had made; but all +the same it is possible, if she had not just so abruptly diverted the +conversation, that he would then and there have placed himself and all +his worldly goods at her disposal. He would have done this, although +five minutes before he had had no more notion of marrying her than the +Emperor of China's daughter, merely because every manly instinct cried +out against permitting a nice girl to protest her partiality for him +without meeting her half-way. Afterward, when he realized how near +he had come to going over the verge of matrimony, it was with such +reminiscent terror as chills the blood of the awakened sleep-walker +looking up at the dizzy ridge-pole he has trodden with but a hair's +breadth between him and eternity. + +During the remainder of the way to Maud's door the conversation upon +pottery, the weather, and miscellaneous topics was incessant,--almost +breathless, in fact. Arthur did not know what he was talking about, +and Maud probably no better what she was saying, but there was not a +moment's silence. A stranger meeting them would have thought, “What a +remarkably jolly couple!” + +“I 'm much obliged for your escort,” said Maud, as she stood upon her +doorstep. + +“Not at all. Great pleasure, I 'm sure.” + +“Good-evening.” + +“Good-evening.” And she disappeared within the door. + +Arthur walked away with a slow, mechanical step. His fallen jaw, open +mouth, and generally idiotic expression of countenance would have +justified his detention by any policeman who might have met him, on +suspicion of being a feeble-minded person escaped from custody. Turning +the first corner, he kept on with the same dragging step till he came +to a vacant lot. Then, as if he were too feeble to get any farther, he +stopped and leaned his back against the fence. Bracing his legs before +him so as to serve as props, he thrust his hands deep in his pockets, +and raising his eyes appealingly to the stars, ejaculated, “Proposed to, +by Jove!” A period of profound introspection followed, and then he broke +forth: “Well, I 'll be hanged!” emphasizing each word with a slow nod. +Then he began to laugh,--not noisily; scarcely audibly, indeed; but +with the deep, unctuous chuckle of one who gloats over some exquisitely +absurd situation, some jest of many facets, each contributing its ray of +humor. + +Yet, if this young man had tremblingly confessed his love to a lady, he +would have expected her to take it seriously. + +Nevertheless, let us not be too severe with him for laughing. It was +what the average young man probably would have done under similar +circumstances, and it was particularly stated at the outset that there +was nothing at all extraordinary about Arthur Burton. For the rest, it +was not a wholly bad symptom. Had he been a conceited fellow, he very +likely would not have laughed. He would have stroked his mustache and +thought it quite natural that a woman should fall in love with him, and +even would have felt a pity for the poor thing. It was, in fact, because +he was not vain that he found the idea so greatly amusing. + +On parting with Arthur, Maud rushed upstairs and locked herself in her +room. She threw herself into the first chair she stumbled over in the +dimly lighted apartment, and sat there motionless, her eyes fixed on +the empty air with an expression of desperation, her hands clinched so +tightly that the nails bit the palms. She breathed only at considerable +intervals, with short, quick inhalations. + +Yet the act which caused this extraordinary revulsion of feeling had +not been the result of any sudden impulse. It was the execution of a +deliberate resolve which had originated in her mind on the night of Lucy +Merritt's departure, as she sat with her before the fire, listening to +her fanciful talk about the advantages which might be expected to attend +franker relations in love affairs between men and women. Deeply in love, +and at the same time feeling that in the ordinary course of events she +had nothing but disappointment to look forward to, she was in a state +of mind just desperate enough to catch at the idea that if Arthur Burton +knew of her love, there would be some chance of his returning it. It +seemed to her that if he did not, she could be no worse off than she +was already. She had brooded over the subject day and night ever since, +considering from every point of view of abstract right or true feminine +propriety the question whether a woman might, without real prejudice to +her maidenly modesty, tell a man that she cared for him, without waiting +for him to ask her to marry him. Her conclusion had been that there was +no reason, apart from her own feelings, why any woman, who dared do it, +should not; and if she thought her life's happiness dependent on her +doing it, that she would be a weak creature who did not dare. + +Her resolve once taken, she had only waited an opportunity to carry it +out; and that evening, when Arthur offered to walk home with her, +she felt that the opportunity had come. Little wonder that she came +downstairs from the dressing-room looking remarkably pale, and that +after they had started, and she was trying to screw up her courage to +the speaking point, her responses to his conversational efforts should +have been at random. It was terribly hard work, this screwing up +her courage. All the fine arguments which had convinced her that her +intended course was justifiable and right had utterly collapsed. She +could not recall one of them. What she had undertaken to do seemed +shocking, hateful, immodest, scandalous, impossible. But there was a +bed-rock of determination to her character; and a fixed, dogged resolve +to do the thing she had once made up her mind to, come what might, had +not permitted her to draw back. Hardly knowing what she was about, or +the words she was saying, she had plunged blindly ahead. Somehow she had +got through with it, and now she seemed to herself to be sitting amidst +the ruins of her womanhood. + +It was particularly remarked that Arthur Burton's laughter, as he +leaned against the fence a square away in convulsions of merriment, +was noiseless, but it was perfectly audible to Maud, as she sat in +the darkness of her chamber. Nay, more: although his thoughts were not +uttered at all, she overheard them, and among them some which the young +man, to do him justice, had the grace not to think. + +The final touch to her humiliation was imparted by the reflection that +she had done the thing so stupidly,--so blunderingly. If she must +needs tell a man she loved him, could she not have told him in language +which at least would have been forcible and dignified? Instead of that, +she had begun with mawkish compliments, unable in her excitement to +think of anything else, and ended with an incoherent jumble that barely +escaped being hysterical He would think that she was as lacking in sense +as in womanly self-respect. At last she turned up the gas, for very +shame avoiding a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she did so, and +bathed her burning cheeks. + + + + +II + +Meanwhile Arthur had reached home and was likewise sitting in his room, +thinking the matter over from his point of view, with the assistance of +a long-stemmed pipe. But instead of turning the gas down, as Maud had +done, he had turned it up, and, having lighted all the jets in the room, +had planted his chair directly in front of the big looking-glass, so +that he might enjoy the reflection of his own amusement and be doubly +entertained. + +By this time, however, amazement and amusement had passed their acute +stages. He was considering somewhat more seriously, but still with +frequent attacks of mirth, the practical aspects of the predicament in +which Maud's declaration had placed him; and the more he considered it, +the more awkward as well as absurd that predicament appeared. They had +the same acquaintances, went to the same parties, and were very likely +to meet whenever they went out of an evening. What if she should +continue to pursue him? If she did, he either would have to cut society, +which had promised to be unusually lively that winter, or provide +himself with a chaperon for protection. For the first time in his life +he was in a position to appreciate the courage of American girls, who, +without a tremor, venture themselves, year in and year out, in the +company of gentlemen from whom they are exposed at any time to proposals +of a tender nature. It was a pity if he could not be as brave as girls +who are afraid of a mouse. Doubtless it was all in getting used to it. + +On reflection, he should not need a chaperon. Had she not assured him +that he need not be afraid of her, that she would never repeat what she +had said, nor trouble him again? How her arm trembled on his as she was +saying that, and how near she came to breaking down! And this was Maud +Elliott, the girl with whom he had never ventured to flirt with as with +some of the others, because she was so reserved and distant. The +very last girl anybody would expect such a thing from! If it had been +embarrassing for him to hear it, what must it have cost such a girl as +Maud Elliott to say it! How did she ever muster the courage? + +He took the pipe from his mouth, and the expression of his eyes became +fixed, while his cheeks reddened slowly and deeply. In putting himself +in Maud's place, he was realizing for the first time how strong must +have been the feeling which had nerved her to such a step. His heart +began to beat rather thickly. There was something decidedly intoxicating +in knowing that one was regarded in such a way by a nice girl, even if +it were impossible, as it certainly was in this case, to reciprocate the +feeling. He continued to put himself mentally in Maud's place. No doubt +she was also at that moment sitting alone in her chamber, thinking the +matter over as he was. She was not laughing, however, that was pretty +certain; and it required no clairvoyant's gift for him to be sensible +that her chief concern must be as to what he might be at that moment +thinking about her. And how had he been thinking about her? + +As this question came up to his mind, he saw himself for a moment +through Maud's eyes, sitting there smoking, chuckling, mowing like an +idiot before the glass because, forsooth, a girl had put herself at his +mercy on the mistaken supposition that he was a gentleman. As he saw his +conduct in this new light, he had such an access of self-contempt that, +had it been physically convenient, it would have been a relief to kick +himself. What touching faith she had shown in his ability to take a +generous, high-minded view of what she had done, and here he had been +guffawing over it like a corner loafer. He would not, for anything in +the world, have her know how he had behaved. And she should not. She +should never know that he was less a gentleman than she believed him. + +She had told him, to be sure, that he owed her nothing because she +loved him; but it had just struck him that he owed her at least, on that +account, a more solicitous respect and consideration than any one else +had the right to expect from him. + +There were no precedents to guide him, no rules of etiquette prescribing +the proper thing for a young man to do under such circumstances as +these. It was a new problem he had to work out, directed only by such +generous and manly instincts as he might have. Plainly the first thing, +and in fact the only thing that he could do for her, seeing that he +really could not return her affection, was to show her that she had not +forfeited his esteem. + +At first he thought of writing her a note and assuring her, in a few +gracefully turned sentences, of his high respect in spite of what she +had done. But somehow the gracefully turned sentences did not occur to +his mind when he took up his pen, and it did occur to him that to write +persons that you still respect them is equivalent to intimating that +their conduct justly might have forfeited your respect. Nor would it be +at all easier to give such an assurance by word of mouth. In fact, quite +the reverse. The meaning to be conveyed was too delicate for words. Only +the unspoken language of his manner and bearing could express it without +offense. It might, however, be some time before chance brought them +together in society, even if she did not, for a while at least, +purposely avoid him. Meantime, uncertain how her extraordinary action +had impressed him, how was she likely to enjoy her thoughts? + +In the generous spirit bred of his new contrition, it seemed to him a +brutal thing to leave her weeks or even days in such a condition of mind +as must be hers. Inaction on his part was all that was required to make +her position intolerable. Inaction was not therefore permissible to him. +It was a matter in which he must take the initiative, and there seemed +to be just one thing he could do which would at all answer the purpose. +A brief formal call, with the conversation strictly limited to the +weather and similarly safe subjects, would make it possible for them to +meet thereafter in society without too acute embarrassment. Had he +the pluck for this, the nerve to carry it through? That was the only +question. There was no doubt as to what he ought to do. It would be an +awkward call, to put it mildly. It would be skating on terribly thin ice +--a little thinner, perhaps, than a man ever skated on before. + +If he could but hit on some pretext, it scarcely mattered how thin,-- +for of course it would not be intended to deceive her,--the interview +possibly could be managed. As he reflected, his eyes fell on a large +volume, purchased in a fit of extravagance, which lay on his table. It +was a profusely illustrated work on pottery, intended for the victims of +the fashionable craze on that subject, which at the date of these events +had but recently reached the United States. His face lighted up with +a sudden inspiration, and taking a pen he wrote the following note to +Maud, dating it the next day:-- + + Miss Elliott: + + Our conversation last evening on the subject of old china + has suggested to me that you might be interested in looking + over the illustrations in the volume which I take the + liberty of sending with this. If you will be at home this + evening, I shall be pleased to call and learn your + impression. + + Arthur Burton. + +The next morning he sent this note and the book to Maud, and that +evening called upon her. To say that he did not twist his mustache +rather nervously as he stood upon the doorstep, waiting for the servant +to answer the bell, would be to give him credit for altogether more +nerve than he deserved. He was supported by the consciousness that he +was doing something rather heroic, but he very much wished it were done. +As he was shown into the parlor, Maud came forward to meet him. She wore +a costume which set off her fine figure to striking advantage, and he +was surprised to perceive that he had never before appreciated what +a handsome girl she was. It was strange that he should never have +particularly observed before what beautiful hands she had, and what +a dazzling fairness of complexion was the complement of her red-brown +hair. Could it be this stately maiden who had uttered those wild words +the night before? Could those breathless tones, that piteous +shame-facedness, have been hers? Surely he must be the victim of some +strange self-delusion. Only the deep blush that mantled her face as she +spoke his name, the quickness with which, after one swift glance, her +eyes avoided his, and the tremor of her hand as he touched it, fully +assured him that he had not dreamed the whole thing. + +A shaded lamp was on the centre-table, where also Arthur's book on +pottery lay open. After thanking him for sending it and expressing the +pleasure she had taken in looking it over, Maud plunged at once into +a discussion of Sèvres, and Cloisonné, and Palissy, and tiles, and all +that sort of thing, and Arthur bravely kept his end up. Any one who had +looked casually into the parlor would have thought that old crockery +was the most absorbing subject on earth to these young people, with +such eagerness did they compare opinions and debate doubtful points. +At length, however, even pottery gave out as a resource, especially +as Arthur ceased, after a while, to do his part, and silences began +to ensue, during which Maud rapidly turned the pages of the book or +pretended to be deeply impressed with the illustrations, while her +cheeks grew hotter and hotter under Arthur's gaze. He knew that he was +a detestable coward thus to revel in her confusion, when he ought to +be trying to cover it, but it was such a novel sensation to occupy this +masterful attitude towards a young lady that he yielded basely to the +temptation. After all, it was but fair. Had she not caused him a very +embarrassing quarter of an hour the night before? + +“I suppose I shall see you at Miss Oswald's next Thursday,” he said, as +he rose to take his leave. + +She replied that she hoped to be there. She accompanied him to the door +of the parlor. There was less light there than immediately about +the table where they had been sitting. “Good-evening,” he said. +“Good-evening,” she replied; and then, in a lowered voice, hardly above +a whisper, she added, “I appreciate all that was noble and generous in +your coming to-night.” He made no reply, but took her hand and, bending +low, pressed his lips to it as reverently as if she had been a queen. + +Now Arthur's motive in making this call upon Maud, which has been +described, had been entirely unselfish. Furthest from his mind, of all +ideas, had been any notion of pursuing the conquest of her heart which +he had inadvertently made. Nevertheless, the effect of his call, and +that, too, even before it was made,--if this bull may be pardoned,-- +had been to complete that conquest as no other device, however studied, +could have done. + +The previous night Maud had been unable to sleep for shame. Her +cheeks scorched the pillows faster than her tears could cool them; and +altogether her estate was so wretched that Lucy Mer-ritt, could she have +looked in upon her, possibly might have been shaken in her opinion as +to the qualifications of women to play the part of men in love, even if +permitted by society. + +It had been hard enough to nerve herself to the point of doing what she +had done in view of the embarrassments she had foreseen. An hour after +she uttered those fatal words, her whole thinking was summed up in the +cry, “If I only had not done it, then at least he would still respect +me.” In the morning she looked like one in a fever. Her eyes were red +and swollen, her face was pallid but for a hard red spot in each +cheek, and her whole appearance was expressive of bodily and mental +prostration. She did not go down to breakfast, pleading a very genuine +headache, and Arthur's note and the book on pottery were brought up to +her. She guessed his motive in a moment. Her need gave her the due to +his meaning. + +What was on Arthur's part merely a decent sort of thing to do, her +passionate gratitude instantly magnified into an act of chivalrous +generosity, proving him the noblest of men and the gentlest of +gentlemen. She exaggerated the abjectness of the position from which his +action had rescued her, in order to feel that she owed the more to his +nobility. At any time during the previous night she gladly would have +given ten years of her life to recall the confession that she had made +to him; now she told herself, with a burst of exultant tears, that she +would not recall it if she could. She had made no mistake. Her womanly +dignity was safe in his keeping. Whether he ever returned her love or +not, she was not ashamed, but was glad, and always should be glad, that +he knew she loved him. + +As for Arthur, the reverence with which he bent over her hand on leaving +her was as heartfelt as it was graceful. In her very disregard of +conventional decorum she had impressed him the more strikingly with the +native delicacy and refinement of her character. It had been reserved +for her to show him how genuine a thing is womanly modesty, and how far +from being dependent on those conventional affectations with which it +is in the vulgar mind so often identified, with the effect of seeming as +artificial as they. + +When, a few evenings later, he went to Miss Oswald's party, the leading +idea in his mind was that he should meet Maud there. His eyes sought +her out the moment he entered the Oswald parlors, but it was some time +before he approached her. For years he had been constantly meeting her, +but he had never before taken special note of her appearance in company. +He had a curiosity about her now as lively as it was wholly new. He took +a great interest in observing how she walked and talked and laughed, how +she sat down and rose up and demeaned herself. It gave him an odd but +marked gratification to note how favorably she compared in style and +appearance with the girls present. Even while he was talking with Ella +Perry, with whom he believed himself in love, he was so busy making +these observations that Ella dismissed him with the sarcastic advice to +follow his eyes, which he presently proceeded to do. + +Maud greeted him with a very fair degree of self-possession, though her +cheeks were delightfully rosy. At first it was evidently difficult +for her to talk, and her embarrassment betrayed uncertainty as to +the stability of the conventional footing which his call of the other +evening had established between them. Gradually, however, the easy, +nonchalant tone which he affected seemed to give her confidence, and +she talked more easily. Her color continued to be unusually though not +unbecomingly high, and it took a great deal of skirmishing for him +to get a glance from her eyes, but her embarrassment was no longer +distressing. Arthur, indeed, was scarcely in a mood to notice that she +did not bear her full part in the conversation. The fact of conversing +on any terms with a young lady who had confessed to him what Maud +had was so piquant in itself that it would have made talk in the +deaf-and-dumb alphabet vivacious. All the while, as they laughed and +talked together quite as any other two young people might do, those +words of hers the other night: “I care for you very much,” “Be a little +good to me,” were ringing in his ears. The reflection that by virtue of +her confession of love she was his whenever he should wish to claim her, +even though he never should claim her, was constantly in his mind, and +gave him a sense of potential proprietorship which was decidedly heady. + +“Arthur Burton seems to be quite fascinated. I never supposed that he +fancied Maud Elliott before, did you?” said one of the young ladies, a +little maliciously, to Ella Perry. Ella tossed her head and replied that +really she had never troubled herself about Mr. Burton's fancies, which +was not true. The fact is, she was completely puzzled as well as vexed +by Arthur's attentions to Maud. There was not a girl in her set of whom +she would not sooner have thought as a rival. Arthur had never, to her +knowledge, talked for five minutes together with Maud before, and here +he was spending half the evening in an engrossing tête-à-tête with her, +to the neglect of his other acquaintances and of herself in particular. +Maud was looking very well, to be sure, but no better than often before, +when he had not glanced at her a second time. What might be the clue to +this mystery? She remembered, upon reflection, that he had escorted Maud +home from the party at her own house the week before, but that explained +nothing. Ella was aware of no weapon in the armory of her sex capable of +effecting the subjugation of a previously quite indifferent young man +in the course of a ten-minutes' walk. If, indeed, such weapons there +had been, Maud Elliott, the most reserved and diffident girl of her +acquaintance,--“stiff and pokerish,” Ella called her,---was the last +person likely to employ them. It must be, Ella was forced to conclude, +that Arthur was trying to punish her for snubbing him by devoting +himself to Maud; and, having adopted this conclusion, the misguided +damsel proceeded to flirt vigorously with a young man whom she detested. + +In the latter part of the evening, when Arthur was looking again for +Maud, he learned that she had gone home, a servant having come to fetch +her. The result was that he went home alone, Ella Perry having informed +him rather crushingly that she had accorded the honor of escorting +herself to another. He was rather vexed at Ella's jilting him, though he +admitted that she might have fancied she had some excuse. + +A few days later he called on her, expecting to patch up their little +misunderstanding, as on previous occasions. She was rather offish, but +really would have been glad to make up, had he shown the humility and +tractableness he usually manifested after their tiffs; but he was not in +a humble frame of mind, and, after a brief and unsatisfactory call, +took his leave. The poor girl was completely puzzled. What had come over +Arthur? She had snubbed him no more than usual that night, and generally +he took it very meekly. She would have opened her eyes very wide indeed +if she had guessed what there had been in his recent experience to spoil +his appetite for humble-pie. + +It was not late when he left Ella, and as he passed Maud's house he +could not resist the temptation of going in. This time he did not +pretend to himself that he sought her from any but entirely selfish +motives. He wanted to remove the unpleasantly acid impression left by +his call on Ella by passing an hour with some one whom he knew would be +glad to see him and not be afraid to let him know it. In this aim he was +quite successful. Maud's face fairly glowed with glad surprise when he +entered the room. This was their second meeting since the evening Arthur +had called to talk pottery, and the tacit understanding that her tender +avowal was to be ignored between them had become so well established +that they could converse quite at their ease. But ignoring is not +forgetting. On the other hand, it implies a constant remembering; and +the mutual consciousness between these young people could scarcely fail +to give a peculiar piquancy to their intercourse. + +That evening was the first of many which the young man passed in Maud's +parlor, and the beginning of an intimacy which caused no end of wonder +among their acquaintances. Had its real nature been suspected, that +wonder would have been vastly increased. For whereas they supposed it +to be an entirely ordinary love affair, except in the abruptness of its +development, it was, in fact, a quite extraordinary variation on the +usual social relations of young men and women. + +Maud's society had in fact not been long in acquiring an attraction for +Arthur quite independent of the peculiar circumstances under which he +had first become interested in her. As soon as she began to feel at +ease with him, her shyness rapidly disappeared, and he was astonished +to discover that the stiff, silent girl whom he had thought rather dull +possessed cultore and originality such as few girls of his acquaintance +could lay claim to. His assurance beyond possibility of doubt that she +was as really glad to see him whenever he called as she said she was, +and that though his speech might be dull or his jests poor they were +sure of a friendly critic, made the air of her parlor wonderfully genial. +The result was that he fell into a habit whenever he wanted a little +social relaxation, but felt too tired, dispirited, or lazy for the +effort of a call on any of the other girls, of going to Maud. One +evening he said to her just as he was leaving, “If I come here too much, +you must send me home.” + +“I will when you do,” she replied, with a bright smile. + +“But really,” he persisted, “I am afraid I bore you by coming so often.” + +“You know better than that,” was her only reply, but the vivid blush +which accompanied the words was a sufficient enforcement of them; and he +was, at the bottom of his heart, very glad to think he did know better. + +Without making any pretense of being in love with her, he had come to +depend on her being in love with him. It had grown so pleasing to count +on her loyalty to him that a change in her feelings would have been +a disagreeable surprise. Getting something for nothing is a mode of +acquisition particularly pleasing to mankind, and he was enjoying +in some respects the position of an engaged man without any of the +responsibilities. + +But if in some respects he was in the position of an engaged man, in +others he was farther from it than the average unengaged man. For while +Maud and he talked of almost everything else under heaven, the subject +of love was tabooed between them. Once for all Maud had said her say on +that point, and Arthur could say nothing unless he said as much as she +had said. For the same reason, there was never any approach to flirting +between them. Any trifling of that sort would have been meaningless +in an intimacy begun, as theirs had been, at a point beyond where most +flirtations end. + +Not only in this respect, but also in the singular frankness which +marked their interchange of thought and opinion, was there something in +their relation savoring of that of brother and sister. It was as if her +confession of love had swept away by one breath the whole lattice of +conventional affectations through which young men and women usually talk +with each other. Once for all she had dropped her guard with him, and +he could not do less with her. He found himself before long talking more +freely to her than to any others of his acquaintance, and about more +serious matters. They talked of their deepest beliefs and convictions, +and he told her things that he had never told any one before. Why +should he not tell her his secrets? Had she not told him hers? It was a +pleasure to reciprocate her confidence if he could not her love. He had +not supposed it to be possible for a man to become so closely acquainted +with a young lady not a relative. It came to the point finally that when +they met in company, the few words that he might chance to exchange with +her were pitched in a different key from that used with the others, such +as one drops into when greeting a relative or familiar friend met in a +throng of strangers. + +Of course, all this had not come at once. It was in winter that the +events took place with which this narrative opened. Winter had meantime +glided into spring, and spring had become summer. In the early part of +June a report that Arthur Burton and Maud Elliott were engaged obtained +circulation, and, owing to the fact that he had so long been apparently +devoted to her, was generally believed. Whenever Maud went out she met +congratulations on every side, and had to reply a dozen times a day that +there was no truth in the story, and smilingly declare that she could +not imagine how it started. After doing which, she would go home and cry +all night, for Arthur was not only not engaged to her, but she had come +to know in her heart that he never would be. + +At first, and indeed for a long time, she was so proud of the frank and +loyal friendship between them, such as she was sure had never before +existed between unplighted man and maid, that she would have been +content to wait half her lifetime for him to learn to love her, if only +she were sure that he would at last. But, after all, it was the hope of +his love, not his friendship, that had been the motive of her desperate +venture. As month after month passed, and he showed no symptoms of any +feeling warmer than esteem, but always in the midst of his cordiality +was so careful lest he should do or say anything to arouse unfounded +expectations in her mind, she lost heart and felt that what she had +hoped was not to be. She said to herself that the very fact that he was +so much her friend should have warned her that he would never be her +lover, for it is not often that lovers are made out of friends. + +It is always embarrassing for a young lady to have to deny a report of +her engagement, especially when it is a report she would willingly have +true; but what made it particularly distressing for Maud that this +report should have got about was her belief that it would be the means +of bringing to an end the relations between them. It would undoubtedly +remind Arthur, by showing how the public interpreted their friendship, +that his own prospects in other quarters, and he might even think +justice to her future, demanded the discontinuance of attentions which +must necessarily be misconstrued by the world. The public had been quite +right in assuming that it was time for them to be engaged. Such an +intimacy as theirs between a young man and a young woman, unless it were +to end in an engagement, had no precedent and belonged to no known +social category. It was vain, in the long run, to try to live +differently from other people. + +The pangs of an accusing conscience completed her wretchedness at this +time. The conventional proprieties are a law written on the hearts of +refined, delicately nurtured girls; and though, in the desperation of +unreciprocated and jealous love, she had dared to violate them, not the +less did they now thoroughly revenge themselves. If her revolt against +custom had resulted happily, it is not indeed likely that she would ever +have reproached herself very seriously; but now that it had issued +in failure, her self-confidence was gone and her conscience easily +convicted her of sin. The outraged Proprieties, with awful spectacles +and minatory, reproachful gestures, crowded nightly around her bed, +the Titanic shade of Mrs. Grundy looming above her satellite shams and +freezing her blood with a Gorgon gaze. The feeling that she had deserved +all that was to come upon her deprived her of moral support. + +Arthur had never showed that he thought cheaply of her, but in his heart +of hearts how could he help doing so? Compared with the other +girls, serene and unapproachable in their virgin pride, must she not +necessarily seem bold, coarse, and common? That he took care never to +let her see it only proved his kindness of heart. Her sense of this +kindness was more and more touched with abjectness. + +The pity of it was that she had come to love him so much more since she +had known him so well. It scarcely seemed to her now that she could have +truly cared for him at all in the old days, and she wondered, as +she looked back, that the shallow emotion she then experienced had +emboldened her to do what she had done. Ah, why had she done it? Why had +she not let him go his way? She might have suffered then, but not such +heart-breaking misery as was now in store for her. + +Some weeks passed with no marked change in their relations, except that +a new and marked constraint which had come over Arthur's manner towards +her was additional evidence that the end was at hand. Would he think +it better to say nothing, but merely come to see her less and less +frequently and so desert her, without an explanation, which, after all, +was needless? Or would he tell her how the matter stood and say good-by? +She thought he would take the latter course, seeing that they had always +been so frank with each other. She tried to prepare herself for what she +knew was coming, and to get ready to bear it. The only result was that +she grew sick with apprehension whenever he did not call, and was only +at ease when he was with her, in the moment that he was saying good-by +without having uttered the dreaded words. + +The end came during a call which he made on her in the last part of +June. He appeared preoccupied and moody, and said scarcely anything. +Several times she caught him furtively regarding her with a very strange +expression. She tried to talk, but she could not alone keep up the +conversation, and in time there came a silence. A hideous silence it +was to Maud, an abyss yawning to swallow up all that was left of her +happiness. She had no more power to speak, and when he spoke she knew it +would be to utter the words she had so long expected. Evidently it was +very hard for him to bring himself to utter them,--almost as hard as +it would be for her to hear them. He was very tender-hearted she had +learned already. Even in that moment she was very sorry for him. It was +all her fault that he had to say this to her. + +Suddenly, just as she must have cried out, unable to bear the tension +of suspense any longer, he rose abruptly to his feet, uttering something +about going and an engagement which he had almost forgotten. Hastily +wishing her good-evening, with hurried steps he half crossed the room, +hesitated, stopped, looked back at her, seemed to waver a moment, and +then, as if moved by a sudden decision, returned to her and took her +gently by the hand. Then she knew it was coming. + +For a long moment he stood looking at her. She knew just the pitifulness +that was in his expression, but she could not raise her eyes to his. She +tried to summon her pride, her dignity, to her support. But she had no +pride, no dignity, left. She had surrendered them long ago. + +“I have something to say to you,” he said, in a tone full of gentleness, +just as she had known he would speak. “It is something I have put off +saying as long as possible, and perhaps you have already guessed what it +is.” + +Maud felt the blood leaving her face; the room spun around; she was +afraid she should faint. It only remained that she should break down now +to complete her humiliation before him, and apparently she was going to +do just that. + +“We have had a most delightful time the past year,” he went on; “that +is, at least I have. I don't believe the friendship of a girl was ever +so much to a man as yours has been to me. I doubt if there ever was just +such a friendship as ours has been, anyway. I shall always look back on +it as the rarest and most charming passage in my life. But I have +seen for some time that we could not go on much longer on the present +footing, and tonight it has come over me that we can't go on even +another day. Maud, I can't play at being friends with you one hour more. +I love you. Do you care for me still? Will you be my wife?” + +When it is remembered that up to his last words she had been desperately +bracing herself against an announcement of a most opposite nature, it +will not seem strange that for a moment Maud had difficulty in realizing +just what had happened. She looked at him as if dazed, and with an +instinct of bewilderment drew back a little as he would have clasped +her. “I thought,” she stammered--“I thought--I”-- + +He misconstrued her hesitation. His eyes darkened and his voice was +sharpened with a sudden fear as he exclaimed, “I know it was a long time +ago you told me that. Perhaps you don't feel the same way now. Don't +tell me, Maud, that you don't care for me any longer, now that I have +learned I can't do without you.” + +A look of wondering happiness, scarcely able even yet to believe in its +own reality, had succeeded the bewildered incredulity in her face. + +“O Arthur!” she cried. “Do you really mean it? Are you sure it is not +out of pity that you say this? Do you love me after all? Would you +really like me a little to be your wife?” + +“If you are not my wife, I shall never have one,” he replied. “You have +spoiled all other women for me.” + +Then she let him take her in his arms, and as his lips touched hers +for the first time he faintly wondered if it were possible he had ever +dreamed of any other woman but Maud Elliott as his wife. After she had +laughed and cried awhile, she said: + +“How was it that you never let me see you cared for me? You never showed +it.” + +“I tried not to,” he replied; “and I would not have shown it to-night, +if I could have helped it. I tried to get away without betraying my +secret, but I could not.” Then he told her that when he found he had +fallen in love with her, he was almost angry with himself. He was so +proud of their friendship that a mere love affair seemed cheap and +common beside it. Any girl would do to fall in love with; but there was +not, he was sure, another in America capable of bearing her part in such +a rare and delicate companionship as theirs. He was determined to keep +up their noble game of friendship as long as might be. + +Afterward, during the evening, he boasted himself to her not a little of +the self-control he had shown in hiding his passion so long, a feat the +merit of which perhaps she did not adequately appreciate. + +“Many a time in the last month or two when you have been saying good-by +to me of an evening, with your hand in mine, the temptation has been +almost more than I could withstand to seize you in my arms. It was all +the harder, you see, because I fancied you would not be very angry if +I did. In fact, you once gave me to understand as much in pretty +plain language, if I remember rightly. Possibly you may recall the +conversation. You took the leading part in it, I believe.” + +Maud had bent her head so low that he could not see her face. It was +very cruel in him, but he deliberately took her chin in his hands, and +gently but firmly turned her face up to his. Then, as he kissed the +shamed eyes and furiously blushing cheeks, he dropped the tone of banter +and said, with moist eyes, in a voice of solemn tenderness:-- + +“My brave darling, with all my life I will thank you for the words you +spoke that night. But for them I might have missed the wife God meant +for me.” + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Love Story Reversed, by Edward Bellamy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LOVE STORY REVERSED *** + +***** This file should be named 22711-0.txt or 22711-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/1/22711/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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