After attending church at a
neighboring village in the morning, she spent most of the afternoon
with Mrs. Burleigh, assisting her in the care of the cross baby.
Van Berg, much to Stanton's envy, found her as genial and cheery
as ever when they met at the table. He learned, from her manner
more than from anything she said, that the day and its associations
were sacred to her. She affected no solemnity and seemed under
no constraint, only her thought and bearing had a somewhat soberer
coloring, like the shading of a picture. To his mind it was but
another example of her entire reticence in regard to herself, while
her smiling face seemed as open as the light.
But as she came out from supper the children pounced upon her,
clamorous for a story. She assented on condition that Mr. Burleigh
would give them the use of one of the private parlors--a stipulation
speedily complied with; and soon she had nearly all the small folk
in the hotel gathered round her.
"I shall stand without, like the 'Peri at the gate,'" Stanton found
a chance to say.
"The resemblance is very striking," was her smiling reply; but for
some reason he winced under it and wished he had not spoken.
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