Indeed, he had already
experienced somewhat of her caprice and had found it little to his
liking. Since the afternoon on which they had skated together she had
never again treated him in so unaffected and friendly a fashion. A
hundred times had she passed him at the opera or the play or in the
salons which they both frequented, with scarcely a nod or smile, and Mr.
Calvert was both offended and amused by such cavalier treatment and
haughty manners.
"She has the air of a princess royal and treats me as the meanest of her
subjects. 'Tis a good thing we Americans have cast off the yoke of
royalty," he thought to himself, with a smile. "And as for beauty--there
are a dozen belles in Virginia alone almost her equal in loveliness and
surely far sweeter, simpler, less spoiled. And yet--and yet--" and the
young man would find himself wondering what was that special charm by
virtue of which she triumphed over all others. He did not himself yet
know why it was that he excused her follies, found her the most
beautiful of all women, or fell into a sort of rage at seeing her in the
loose society of the day, with such men as St.
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