ments of speech and delicate point of view, when he
had first known her at her brother's, as finicky, to say the least. All
women had fool notions about most things; this one seemed to have more
than the average share, that was all. He secretly shared Gertie's
opinion that women the world over were all alike in the essentials. He
had always been of the opinion that Nora had good stuff in her which
would come out once she had been licked into shape. Yet he found himself
not only learning to admire her for those same niceties but found
himself unconsciously imitating her mannerisms of speech.
Then, too, after they began the habit of reading in the evenings, he
found that she had no intention of ridiculing his ignorance and lack of
knowledge in matters on which she seemed to him to be wonderfully
informed. That they did not by any means always agree in the conclusions
they arrived at, in place of irritating him, as he would have thought,
he found only stimulating to his imagination. To attack and try to
undermine her position, as long as their arguments were conducted with
perfect good nature on either side, as they always were, diverted him
greatly. And he was secretly pleased when she defended herself with a
skill and address that defeated his purpose.
All the little improvements in the shack were a source of never-ending
pride and pleasure to him. Often when at work he found himself proudly
comparing his place with its newly added prettiness with the more gaudy
ornaments of Mrs. Sharp's or even with Gertie's more pretentious abode.
And it was not altogether the pride of ownership that made them suffer
in the comparison.
Looking back on the days before Nora's advent seemed like a horrible
nightmare from which he was thankful to have awakened. Once in a while
he indulged himself in speculating as to how it would feel to go back to
the old shiftless, untidy days of his bachelorhood. But he rarely
allowed himself to entertain the idea of her leaving, seriously. He was
like a child, snuggly tucked in his warm bed who, listening to the
howling of the wind outside, pictures himself exposed to its harshness
in order to luxuriate the more in its warmth and comfort.
But when, as sometimes happened, he could not close the door of his mind
to the thought of how he should ever learn to live without her again, it
brought an anguish that was physical as well as mental. Once, looking up
from her book, Nora had surprised him sitt
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