"
"How did she treat him?"
"Threw him over out of a clear sky one night, that's all. Just sent him
home and broke his heart; that is, it would have been broken if he'd had
any kind of disposition except the one the Lord blessed him with--just
all optimism and cheerfulness and make-the-best-of-it-ness! He's never
cared for anybody else, and I guess he never will."
"What did she do it for?"
"NOTHING!" My cousin shot the indignant word from her lips. "Nothing in
the wide WORLD!"
"But there must have been--"
"Listen to me," she interrupted, "and tell me if you ever heard anything
queerer in your life. They'd been engaged--Heaven knows how long--over
two years; probably nearer three--and always she kept putting it off;
wouldn't begin to get ready, wouldn't set a day for the wedding. Then
Mr. Apperthwaite died, and left her and her mother stranded high and dry
with nothing to live on. David had everything in the world to give
her--and STILL she wouldn't! And then, one day, she came up here and
told me she'd broken it off. Said she couldn't stand it to be engaged to
David Beasley another minute!"
"But why?"
"Because"--my cousin's tone was shrill with her despair of expressing
the satire she would have put into it--"because, she said he was a man
of no imagination!"
"She still says so," I remarked, thoughtfully.
"Then it's time she got a little imagination herself!" snapped my
companion.
Pages:
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35