Howells, William Dean, 1837-1920 / 2008-11-19 00:00:00

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MISS SPAULDING: "Oh, yes, you will, Ethel!"
MISS REED: "No, I shall not. If he wishes me to listen he must
begin by humbling himself in the dust--yes, the dust, Nettie! I
won't take anything short of it. I insist that he shall realize that
I have suffered."
MISS SPAULDING: "Perhaps he has suffered too!"
MISS REED: "Oh, HE suffered!"
MISS SPAULDING: "You know that he was perfectly devoted to you."
MISS REED: "He never said so."
MISS SPAULDING: "Perhaps he didn't dare."
MISS REED: "He dared to be very insolent to me."
MISS SPAULDING: "And you know you liked him very much."
MISS REED: "I won't let you say that, Nettie Spaulding. I DIDN'T
like him. I respected and admired him; but I didn't LIKE him. He
will come near me; but if he does he has to begin by--by--Let me see,
what shall I make him begin by doing?" She casts up her eyes for
inspiration while she leans forward over the register. "Yes, I will!
He has got to begin by taking that money!"
MISS SPAULDING: "Ethel, you wouldn't put that affront upon a
sensitive and high-spirited man!"
MISS REED: "Wouldn't I? You wait and SEE, Miss Spaulding! He shall
take the money, and he shall sign a receipt for it. I'll draw up the
receipt now, so as to have it ready, and I shall ask him to sign it
the very moment he enters this door--the very instant!" She takes a
portfolio from the table near her, without rising, and writes:
"'Received from Miss Ethel Reed one hundred and twenty-five dollars,
in full, for twenty-five lessons in oil-painting.
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