For this reason, there was nothing in the situation that suggested
a single compromising speculation in the minds of the neighbors, or
disturbed her own tranquillity. There seemed to be nothing in the future
except a possible relief to her curiosity. Some day the unfortunate
man's reason would be restored, and he would tell his simple history.
Perhaps he might explain what was in his mind when he turned to her
the first evening with that singular sentence which had often recurred
strangely to her, she knew not why. It did not strike her until later
that it was because it had been the solitary indication of an energy and
capacity that seemed unlike him. Nevertheless, after that explanation,
she would have been quite willing to have shaken hands with him and
parted.
And yet--for there was an unexpressed remainder in her thought--she
was never entirely free or uninfluenced in his presence. The flickering
vacancy of his sad eyes sometimes became fixed with a resolute
immobility under the gentle questioning with which she had sought to
draw out his faculties, that both piqued and exasperated her.
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