Marmion, I am only a girl, I know, and
inexperienced, but I hoped most people of education and knowledge of life
were free from that kind of cynicism to be read of in books." Then
something in her thoughts seemed to chill her words and manner, and her
father coming up a moment after, she took his arm, and walked away with a
not very cordial bow to me.
The fact is, with a woman's quick intuition, she had read in my tone
something suggestive of my recent experience with Mrs. Falchion. Her fine
womanliness awoke; the purity of her thoughts, rose in opposition to my
flippancy and to me; and I knew that I had raised a prejudice not easy to
destroy.
This was on a Friday afternoon.
On the Saturday evening following, the fancy-dress ball was to occur. The
accident to the machinery and our delay were almost forgotten in the
preparations therefor. I had little to do; there was only one sick man on
board, and my hand could not cure his sickness. How he fared, my
uncomfortable mind, now bitterly alive to a sense of duty, almost
hesitated to inquire. Yet a change had come. A reaction had set in for
me.
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