But this was not so easy. Things she would willingly have forgotten
seemed, for that very reason, to stick in her memory--nay, in some moods
of mind, to appear less entirely objectionable than in others. She had
little opportunity for solitude--to bethink herself where she stood, and
how she came there. During the daytime, there were the young ladies,
here, there, and everywhere; there could be no seclusion. In the
afternoons and evenings some admiring, soft-voiced young gentleman was
always at her side, offering her his arm on the faintest pretext, or
attempting to put it round her waist on no pretext at all; who always
found it more convenient to murmur in her ear, than to speak out from a
reasonable distance; whose hands were always getting into proximity with
hers, and often attempting to clasp them; whose eyes were forever
expressing something earnest or arch, pleading or romantic--though
precisely what, his lingering utterance scarcely tried to define; who
never could "see the harm" of these and many other peculiarities of
behavior; and, indeed it was not very easy to argue about them, although
the young gentlemen never shrank from the dispute, and never failed to
have on hand an inexhaustible assortment of syllogisms to combat any
remonstrance that might be advanced withal; while at the worst they
could always be surprised and hurt if their conduct were called into
question.
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