She did nothing of the kind now, she
came forward with a chastened tenderness and said, "Elizabeth," and
kissed her. It was Elizabeth, who the night before had been sobbing over
Katie's hard lot and praying that happiness might come to her, and who
was looking at her now with a heart full of contrition and admiration,
who seemed to those watching to greet the girl coldly, to be indifferent
to her beauty and her disappointment. Strangely enough, however, Stephen
did not think so; he remembered the scene in the library, and it was
possible that in the few times that he had met Elizabeth he had learned
to understand her a little. He was quick of apprehension where his
prejudices were not concerned, and he certainly had had no opportunity
to be prejudiced against Elizabeth as one wanting to lay claim to him.
And he knew better than any one else did how she hated the very thought
of the yoke that might be laid upon her. His thoughts did not dwell upon
her, however, for he saw that Katie was like her old affectionate self,
that her unjust resentment had been only momentary; it would have been
unnatural not to have felt so on that day, he reasoned.
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