It is inconceivable to me now that I could
have misread their honest story; yet I did.
"I had no idea your uncle's notion of honor was also eccentric," said I,
with a satirical smile that made the blood rush to her face.
"That is unjust to him," she replied earnestly.
"He says he made you no promise of secrecy. And he confessed to me only
because he wished to convince me that he had good reason for his high
opinion of you."
"Really!" said I ironically. "And no doubt he found you open wide to
conviction--_now_." This a subtlety to let her know that I understood
why she was seeking me.
"No," she answered, lowering her eyes. "I knew--better than he."
For an instant this, spoken in a voice I had long given up hope of ever
hearing from her, staggered my cynical conviction. But-- "Possibly she
thinks she is sincere," reasoned my head with my heart; "even the sincerest
women, brought up as was she, always have the calculator underneath; they
deny it, they don't know it often, but there it is; with them, calculation
is as involuntary and automatic as their pulse." So, I said to her,
mockingly: "Doubtless your opinion of me has been improving steadily ever
since you heard that Mrs.
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