He searched within for what might bend, influence,
her, for whatever he might have of value in her eyes. He found nothing.
It was a novel and painful experience; and it bred in him a certain
anger; he became merely stubborn. He declared to himself, with an oath,
that he would gain her; and he pulled up his horses viciously at the
station rack. This, too, hurt her; she exclaimed faintly at the brutally
drawn bits. A man hurried forward to take her bag, and then, in a
blowing of horn, a harsh exhaust of steam, she was gone. A last, hurried
impression of her delicate profile on a small pane of glass accompanied
him back to Myrtle Forge. There his mother regarded him with an open
concern. "Something's on your mind," she declared. "I passed your door
at midnight, and there was light under it. I've often told you about
sitting up late."
"I'm getting along," he replied lightly. "You fail to do justice to the
weight of my increasing majority. But, in a little, you'll be astonished
at my renewed youth." He became serious in speaking, conscious of the
new life Susan would, must, bring into his existence.
XVIII
Since he had declared himself so decidedly and at once, no hesitation
was possible; he must, he was aware, move remorselessly forward in
assault.
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