Selma, whose soul was full of Benham, suggested it as an alternative,
enlarging with contagious enthusiasm on its civic merits. The crushed
old man listened with growing attention. Already the germs of a plan for
the disposition of his large property were sprouting in his mind to
provide him with a refuge from despondency. He was a reticent man, not
in the habit of confiding his affairs until ready to act, but he paid
interested heed to Selma's eulogy of the bustling energy and rapid
growth of Benham. His preliminary thought had been that it would make
him happy to endow his native town, which was a small and inconspicuous
place, with a library building. But, as his visitor referred to the
attractions and admirable public spirit of the thriving city, which was
in the same State as his own home, he silently reasoned that residence
there need not interfere with his original project, and that he might
find a wide and more important field for his benefactions in a community
so representative of American ideas and principles.
Selma's visits of condolence to Mr. Parsons were interrupted by the
illness of her own husband. In reflecting, subsequently, she remembered
that he had seemed weary and out of sorts for several days, but her
conscious attention was invoked by his coming home early in the
afternoon, suffering from a violent chill, and manifestly in a state of
physical collapse.
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