"I don't seem to care what I do now," said Marian, whose mood was
turned to its lowest bass. "I was going to marry a dairyman at
Stickleford, who's asked me twice; but--my soul--I would put an end
to myself rather'n be his wife now! Why don't ye speak, Izz?"
"To confess, then," murmured Izz, "I made sure to-day that he was
going to kiss me as he held me; and I lay still against his breast,
hoping and hoping, and never moved at all. But he did not. I don't
like biding here at Talbothays any longer! I shall go hwome."
The air of the sleeping-chamber seemed to palpitate with the
hopeless passion of the girls. They writhed feverishly under the
oppressiveness of an emotion thrust on them by cruel Nature's law--an
emotion which they had neither expected nor desired. The incident
of the day had fanned the flame that was burning the inside of their
hearts out, and the torture was almost more than they could endure.
The differences which distinguished them as individuals were
abstracted by this passion, and each was but portion of one organism
called sex. There was so much frankness and so little jealousy
because there was no hope. Each one was a girl of fair common sense,
and she did not delude herself with any vain conceits, or deny her
love, or give herself airs, in the idea of outshining the others.
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