over
the sudden development of so many unpleasant qualities in her lover.
Though, indeed, had her speculations been never so active and ingenious,
the actual plan on which Hunt was proceeding would probably have lain
far beyond the horizon of her conjecture.

Meanwhile, Hunt was straitened for time; only eight or ten days of the
term were left, and in that time he must effect Annie's cure, if at all.
A slow cure would be much more likely to prove a sure one, but he must
do the best he could in the time he had. And yet he did not dare
to multiply startling strokes, for fear of bewildering instead of
estranging her, and, possibly, of suggesting suspicion. Stimulated
by the emergency, he now began to put in some very fine work, which,
although it may not be very impressive in description, was probably more
effective than any other part of his tactics. Under guise of appearing
particularly attentive and devoted, he managed to offend Annie's taste
and weary her patience in every way that ingenuity could suggest.
His very manifestations of affection were so associated with some
affectation or exhibition of bad taste, as always to leave an unpleasant
impression on her mind. He took as much pains to avoid saying tolerably
bright or sensible things in his conversation as people generally do
to say them. In all respects he just reversed the rules of conduct
suggested by the ordinary motive of a desire to ingratiate one's self
with others.

And by virtue of a rather marked endowment of that delicate sympathy
with others' tastes and feelings which underlies good manners, he
was able to make himself far more unendurable to Annie than a less
sympathetic person could have done. Evening after evening she went to
her room feeling as if she were covered with pin-pricks, from a score of
little offenses to her fastidious taste which he had managed to commit.
His thorough acquaintance with her, and knowledge of her aesthetic
standards in every respect, enabled him to operate with a perfect
precision that did not waste a stroke.

It must not be supposed that it was altogether without sharp twinges
of compunction, and occassional impulses to throw off his disguise and
enjoy the bliss of reconciliation, that he pursued this cold-blooded
policy. He never could have carried it so far, had he not been prepared
by a long and painful period of self-reproach on account of his
entanglement. It was, however, chiefly at the outset that he had felt