And yet not altogether so, for the thought of
Benis Spence as eternally escaped was not a welcome one. She
realized now that she might have liked the elusive professor more
than a little. They would have been, she thought, admirably suited.
At the worst, neither would have bored the other. And the Spence
home was quite possible--as a home for part of the year at least. It
was certainly annoying that fate should have cut in so unexpectedly.
And for what? Apparently for nothing but that a girl with grey,
enigmatic eyes and close-shut lips should keep from Mary a position
which she did not want herself. For Mary, captive of her Thought,
was more than ready to believe that Desire's hidden preference was
for John. She naturally could not grant her rival a share of her own
discriminating taste in loving.
"I suppose," thought Mary, "it is her immaturity which makes her
prefer the doctor person to one who so far outranks him. She admires
sleek hair and a straight nose. The finer fascinations of Benis
escape her."
Meanwhile she stayed on.
"I know I should come home," she wrote the most select of the select
friends. "And I know dear Miss Campion thinks so! But the situation
here is too absorbing. And, as my invitation was indefinite, I can
hardly be accused of outstaying it. I can't be supposed to know that
I'm not wanted. I justify myself by the knowledge that I am of some
use to Benis. You know I can interest most men when I try, and this
time my 'heart is in it'--like Sentimental Tommy.
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