-glass in my hand, which brought the whole crew of the
young ladies' boat so close to me that I could see the features, the
figures, the movements, of every one of the rowers. I saw the little
coxswain fling her bouquet in the track of the other boat,--you remember
how the race was lost and won,--but I saw one face among those young
girls which drew me away from all the rest. It was that of the young lady
who pulled the bow oar, the captain of the boat's crew. I have since
learned her name, you know it well,--I need not name her. Since that day
I have had many distant glimpses of her; and once I met her so squarely
that the deadly sensation came over me, and I felt that in another moment
I should fall senseless at her feet. But she passed on her way and I on
mine, and the spasm which had clutched my heart gradually left it, and I
was as well as before. You know that young lady, doctor?"
"I do; and she is a very noble creature. You are not the first young man
who has been fascinated, almost at a glance, by Miss Euthymia Tower. And
she is well worth knowing more intimately."
The doctor gave him a full account of the young lady, of her early days,
her character, her accomplishments. To all this he listened devoutly,
and when the doctor left him he said to himself, "I will see her and
speak with her, if it costs me my life."
XXII
EUTHYMIA.
"The Wonder" of the Corinna Institute had never willingly made a show of
her gymnastic accomplishments. Her feats, which were so much admired,
were only her natural exercise. Gradually the dumb-bells others used
became too light for her, the ropes she climbed too short, the clubs she
exercised with seemed as if they were made of cork instead of being heavy
wood, and all the tests and meters of strength and agility had been
strained beyond the standards which the records of the school had marked
as their historic maxima. It was not her fault that she broke a
dynamometer one day; she apologized for it, but the teacher said he
wished he could have a dozen broken every year in the same way. The
consciousness of her bodily strength had made her very careful in her
movements. The pressure of her hand was never too hard for the tenderest
little maiden whose palm was against her own. So far from priding
herself on her special gifts, she was disposed to be ashamed of them.
There were times and places in which she could give full play to her
muscles without fear or reproach. She had
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