Of course he was
engaged to Statira, but he had hardly thought of it in that way.
'Manda Grier had joked about the time when she supposed she should
have to keep old maid's hall alone; when she first did this Lemuel
thought it delightful, but afterwards he did not like it so much; it
began to annoy him that 'Manda Grier should mix herself up so much
with Statira and himself. He believed that Statira would be
different, would be more like other ladies (he generalised it in
this way, but he meant Miss Swan and Miss Carver), if she had not
'Manda Grier there all the time to keep her back. He convinced
himself that if it were not for 'Manda Grier, he should have had no
trouble in telling Statira that the art-students were sketching him;
and that he had not done so yet because he hated to have 'Manda ask
her so much about them, and call them that Swan girl and that Carver
girl, as she would be sure to do, and clip away the whole evening
with her questions and her guesses. It was now nearly a fortnight
since the sketching began, and he had let one Sunday night pass
without mentioning it. He could not let another pass, and he knew
'Manda Grier would say they were a good while about it, and would
show her ignorance, and put Statira up to asking all sorts of
things. He could not bear to think of it, and he let the next Sunday
night pass without saying anything to Statira.
Pages:
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273