"Their love is like
a footprint on the seashore; the first big wave washes it away,
and they are ready to make another. I reckon I shan't bother
myself about her any more. If she loved Arthur as I thought she
did, she couldn't hug another one so soon. It isn't nature--man
nature, any way; but Edith's like a reed that bends. That
character of Cooper's suits her exactly. I'll call her so to
myself hereafter--Reed that bends," and Victor hurried off,
delighted with his new name.
But if Victor was in a measure deceived by Edith's demeanor, Grace
Atherton was not. Women distrust women sooner than men; can read
each other better, detect the hidden motive sooner, and ere the
two had been five minutes together, Grace had caught a glimpse of
the troubled, angry current over which the upper waters rippled so
smoothly that none save an accurate observer would have suspected
the fierce whirlpool which lay just below the surface. Because, he
thought, they would like it better, Richard left the two ladies
alone at last and then turning suddenly upon Edith, Grace said,
"Tell me, Edith, is your heart in this or have you done it in a
fit of desperation?"
"I have had a long time to think of it," Edith answered proudly.
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