"
Little wonder that the flattered belle should feel hate or at least
spite toward the man who had virtually given her such a stinging
rebuke.
But while this fact and the differences of character explained Ida's
manner toward the artist, it did not account for the expression
of pain and perplexity that she occasionally detected in the young
girl's face. It did not explain why she should sit for an hour at
a time, as she had that morning in the parlor, her eyes fixed on
vacancy, and her face full of dread and trouble, as if there were
something present to her mind from which she shrank inexpressibly.
She tried several times to make advances toward the unhappy girl,
but was in every instance repelled, coldly and decidedly.
"What IS preying upon Miss Mayhew's mind?" she queried with
increasing frequency. Her experience as a teacher of young girls
made her quick to detect the presence of those dangerous thoughts
which beset the entrance on mature womanhood. With a frown that
formed a marked contrast with her customary gentle and genial
expression, she surmised: "Can Sibley, or any one else, be seeking
to tempt and lead her astray?"
As the most plausible explanation she finally concluded that Ida
was brooding over her father's unhappy tendencies.
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