"
"Good-night, aunty. All that is over."
"Mara, you must take an opiate to-night."
"Yes; give me something to make me sleep, that will bring oblivion for at
least to-night. I must be ready for my work in the morning. It won't take
me long _now_ to attain self-control."
"Mara," cried Ella the next day, "you look positively ill. I wish you
could take a rest. Suppose we shut up shop for a while, and hang out a
sign, 'closed for repairs.'"
"No, Ella. I can stand it, if you can, till August, and then we will take
a month's rest. I wasn't very well last night, but I have found a remedy
which is going to help me, and I shall be better."
Ella took the surface meaning of these words, and, being preoccupied with
her own thoughts, remained, as well as Mara, rather silent that morning.
Although she assured herself more than once that George Houghton was
"nothing to her," she found herself thinking a great deal about him, and
what she termed "their droll experiences." Prone to take a mirthful view
of everything, she often laughed over the whole affair, and it grew rather
than lost in interest with time. It was the first real adventure of her
girlhood, and he was the first man who had retained more than a transient
place in her thoughts. Feeling that their acquaintance had come about
through no fault of hers, she was disposed to get all the fun possible out
of what had occurred.
The morning was warm, and she was working in charming _dishabille_.
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