He had no lack of company, but all found him reticent
concerning his accident and the causes which had led to it. The
most persistent gossip in the house learned no more than the bare
facts, and was inclined to believe there was nothing more to learn.
That Stanton was so distant was explained by the fact that he was
an unsuccessful rival. Both Van Berg and Ida puzzled Stanton as
far as he gave them thought, but in his honest loyalty his heart
was in the darkened room in which poor Jennie was resting, more
from her long passionate struggle with a sorrow she could not bury
than from the exhaustion caused by her rescue of Van Berg.
Friday morning happened to be very warm, and Ida did not visit Mr.
Eltinge, but ensconced herself in a distant corner of the piazza
with a book, the pages of which were not turned very regularly.
"I wonder," she thought, "when, if ever, we shall have another
friendly talk. What a strange, deep hush, as it were, has come
after the passionate joy and desperate sorrow and fear of the past
week! It is the type of what my inner life will be. But I must
not complain; thousands of hearts, no doubt, are the burial-places
of as dear a hope as mine; and One is pledged to give me back my
life in some way, and at some time.
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