Henceforth I should be a
woman with a romantic past, faithful to the one love of her
life--a very, very different thing from an old maid who had never
had a lover.
"He was tall and dark, with lovely, curly black hair and
brilliant, piercing eyes. He had a splendid chin, and a fine
nose, and the most fascinating smile!"
"What was he?" asked Maggie.
"A young lawyer," I said, my choice of profession decided by an
enlarged crayon portrait of Mary Gillespie's deceased brother on
an easel before me. He had been a lawyer.
"Why didn't you marry him?" demanded Susette.
"We quarreled," I answered sadly. "A terribly bitter quarrel.
Oh, we were both so young and so foolish. It was my fault. I
vexed Cecil by flirting with another man"--wasn't I coming on!--
"and he was jealous and angry. He went out West and never came
back. I have never seen him since, and I do not even know if he
is alive. But--but--I could never care for any other man."
"Oh, how interesting!" sighed Wilhelmina. "I do so love sad love
stories. But perhaps he will come back some day yet, Miss
Holmes."
"Oh, no, never now," I said, shaking my head. "He has forgotten
all about me, I dare say. Or if he hasn't, he has never forgiven
me."
Mary Gillespie's Susan Jane announced tea at this moment, and I
was thankful, for my imagination was giving out, and I didn't
know what question those girls would ask next.
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