"All the higher faculties of my soul are her allies," he thought,
complacently. "I admire honor, and even reverence her. She could
walk through life as my companion, my equal, and in many respects,
my superior;" and so with all the delicate and unobtrusive tact of
which he was the master he proposed to press his suit.
Since Jennie Burton had plainly intimated that, like King Lear,
she had lost her woman's kingdom--her heart--and so was not able
to reward such suit and service, how came it she kept poor Stanton
at a distance, but welcomed the society of Van Berg? Possibly her
intuition recognized the fact that in the case of Stanton she had
touched the heart, but had won the mind of the artist. The first
seemed disposed to give all and to demand all. Stanton's all
did not count for very much thus far in her estimation. She had
recognized the character he had brought to the Lake House--that of
a pleasure-loving man of the world--and she was far too modest to
suppose that she could work any material change in this character.
Self-indulgent by nature, she believed that he had proposed to
enjoy a summer flirtation with one whom he would easily forget in
the autumn, and, while this impression lasted, she punished him by
requiring that he should be the chivalric attendant of every forlorn
female in the house.
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