Such incidents had happened and were likely to happen again.
Nevertheless, notwithstanding his absentmindedness, he was never too
much absorbed to maintain toward Celestina an old-fashioned deference
very appealing to one accustomed to being ignored and slighted.
The impulse, it was quite obvious, was prompted less by conventionality
than by a knightliness of heart, and Celestina, who had never before
been the recipient of such courtesies, found herself inexpressibly
touched by the trifling attentions. Often she speculated as to whether
this mental attitude toward all womanhood was one Willie himself had
evolved or whether it was the result of standards instilled into his
sensitive consciousness by the women who had been his companions
through life,--his mother, his aunt, his sister. Whichever the case
there was no question that the old man's bearing toward her placed her
on a pinnacle where gossip was silenced, and transformed her humble
ministrations from those of a hireling into acts of graciousness and
beauty.
Moreover to live in the same house with such an optimist was no
ordinary experience.
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