I won'er if Missy Mara got de same 'plaint as Missy Ella. She bery
deep, an' won' let on, eben ter her ole nuss. Pears ter me de cap'n's
gittin' kiner lopsided toward her, but I don' belibe dat'll wuck."
Ella was both gladdened and saddened by her visit. Houghton's buying her
cake was one of those little homely facts on which love delights to dwell;
for the heart instinctively knows that genuine love permeates the whole
being, prompting to thoughtfullness in small matters which indifference
overlooks. She could not but be glad that he had seemed to have "on'y you
on his min'"; and then she grieved that all which was coming about so
naturally, like a spring growth, should have been harshly smitten by the
black frost of prejudice and hate.
After an early dinner that evening her father asked her kindly to go with
him and Mara to the Battery; but she declined, saying she would rather
keep Mrs. Bodine company. He did not urge her; and he had been so
preoccupied by his thoughts as not to observe that she was pale and
dejected, in spite of her efforts to appear as usual.
When alone Mrs. Bodine said, "You should have gone, Ella. You need the
fresh cool air from the water. Why didn't you go?"
"Oh!" said the girl, in assumed lightness of tone, "three is sometimes a
crowd."
"You shouldn't feel that way, Ella. You would never be a crowd."
"You are forgetting your old experiences, Cousin Sophy.
Pages:
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359