Pray excuse this
indirect method of answering your inquiry; it is in the nature of a
soliloquy; it is an airing of thoughts and doubts which have been
harassing me for a fortnight--ever since I knew Mrs. Babcock. Really,
Mr. Littleton, I can tell you very little about her. She is a new-comer
on the horizon of Benham; she has been married very recently; I believe
she has taught school and that she was brought up not far from here. She
is as proud as Lucifer and sometimes as beautiful; she is profoundly
serious and--and apparently very ignorant. I fancy she is clever and
capable in her way, but I admit she is an enigma to me and that I have
not solved it. I can see she does not approve of me altogether. She
regards me with suspicion, and yet she threw the casting vote in favor
of my proposal to open the competition for the church to architects from
other places. I am trying to like her, for I wish to believe in
everything genuinely American if I can. There, I have told you all I
know, and to a man she may seem altogether attractive and inspiring."
"Thank you. I had no conception that I was broaching such a complex
subject. She sounds interesting, and my curiosity is whetted. You have
not mentioned the husband.
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