.

I dropped in at Trinity on my way, and put up a prayer; it was that she
might make it easy for herself, and for me, though that is a minor
matter--keep the game in her own hands, and tell enough to serve her
ambassador's need, without his questioning.

She did not keep me waiting: she never had that vice. The change in her
is not for casual eyes to see. Outwardly, I have fallen off more than
she has; in fact, I have lost three pounds in these last two months.
Many a hat was raised, many an envious glance turned toward me, as we
spun up the avenue. The fellows at the club, and elsewhere, used to
pester me to introduce them, and I gratified them for a while, till she
told me she could not have all my acquaintances coming to call, and made
Mabel say I must leave off bringing men home to dinner. She never was a
coquette; but what is a girl so endowed to do? They would force
themselves on her, by dozens, by scores, by hundreds: they overflowed
the house and took up all her time; they crowded her life, until she
could stand it no longer and stopped it. That is why we live so quietly
of late: it is a great improvement. Now, they gaze on her from afar: yet
she never had difficulty with any of them--till August, alas. That was
my fault, for bringing in a wild man from the woods, who could not be
counted on or ruled like the rest, but would flop around in his
uncircumcised way and break things. I should never forgive myself for
that, if I did not hope to get matters right--and more so than they ever
were, for her.

For a time we drove on silently. Then of a sudden, without looking at
me, she said very quietly, "Jane told me you wanted to see me, Robert."

O Lord, is this to be the shape of it after all? Well, what must be
must, and I will do my stint as a man may. "Did she say nothing else?"

"That you were afraid to come to me. Have I been so harsh with you, or
so terrible of late?" Her tone was half arch, half reproachful.

"No, no; far from it. But you know how it is, Clarice. Your trouble is
ours, and I am a poor surgeon. How can I put a knife into the wound? I
wish it were mine, and mine only."

"I have brought trouble on you all, brother. I ought to have gone away."

"Never; do you think Mabel and Jane would allow that, any more than I?
We would all rather break our hearts together, if that need be, than
have you among strangers now: it would be worse for us, no less than for
you. When you are happy you may leave