Hauksbee opened the neatly folded note,--another accomplishment that she
had taught Otis,--read it, and groaned tragically.
"Last wreck of a feeble intellect! Poetry! Is it his own, do you think? Oh,
that I ever built my hopes on such a maudlin idiot!"
"No. It's a quotation from Mrs. Browning, and, in view of the facts of the
case, as Jack says, uncommonly well chosen. Listen:
"'Sweet thou has trod on a heart--
Pass! There's a world full of men
And women as fair as thou art,
Must do such things now and then.
"'Thou only hast stepped unaware--
Malice not one can impute;
And why should a heart have been there,
In the way of a fair woman's foot?'
"I didn't--I didn't--I didn't! " said Mrs. Hauksbee, angrily, her eyes filling
with tears; "there was no malice at all. Oh, it's too vexatious!"
"You've misunderstood the compliment," said Mrs. Mallowe. "He clears you
completely and--ahem--I should think by this, that he has cleared completely
too. My experience of men is that when they begin to quote poetry, they are
going to flit. Like swans singing before they die, you know."
'Polly, you take my sorrows in a most unfeeling way."
"Do I?" Is it so terrible? If he's hurt your vanity, I should say that you've
done a certain amount of damage to his heart.
Pages:
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390