"I suppose he does the best he
can," she thought; "but she'll surely find him out; there is no
use of trying to hide anything from a woman who loves. Well, well,
let her but remain discreetly blind for a little time, and with
her powers of fascination she will win him heart and soul."
Before Jennie slept that night her mind was clear as to her course.
"I think," she murmured, "I understand them both now. His manner
towards Miss Mayhew is certainly not that of a conventional
lover; but as I have seen him look at her twice as if he could say
his prayers to her, I think I'll venture on the only match-making
I ever attempted. But what to do with Mr. Stanton, I don't know.
Poor man! he might as well love a shadow as me, and yet he seems
so simple, honest, and real himself. He is disappointing me daily,
and I have wronged him very much. I thought him a selfish man of
the world, but he persists in offering me a chivalric, unselfish
devotion, for which he asks nothing in return. Alas! I can give
him nothing--nothing compared with what he gives."
"I am going to make my last visit to Mr. Eltinge and the old
garden," said Ida to Van Berg as she passed him on the piazza the
following morning.
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