I may meet
some of them, and I don't want them to see this ring. You keep it until
Philip comes," said Elnora. "As for what Miss Carr said to me, many
things, two of importance: one, that I lacked every social requirement
necessary for the happiness of Philip Ammon, and that if I married him I
would see inside a month that he was ashamed of me----"
"Aw, shockins!" scorned Mrs. Comstock. "Go on!"
"The other was that she has been engaged to him for years, that he
belongs to her, and she refuses to give him up. She said that if he were
in her presence one hour, she would have him under a mysterious thing
she calls 'her spell' again; if he were where she could see him for
one week, everything would be made up. It is her opinion that he is
suffering from wounded pride, and that the slightest concession on her
part will bring him to his knees before her."
Mrs. Comstock giggled. "I do hope the boy isn't weak-kneed," she said.
"I just happened to be passing the west window this afternoon----"
Elnora laughed. "Nothing save actual knowledge ever would have made me
believe there was a girl in all this world so infatuated with herself.
She speaks casually of her power over men, and boasts of 'bringing a man
to his knees' as complacently as I would pick up a net and say: 'I am
going to take a butterfly.' She honestly believes that if Philip were
with her a short time she could rekindle his love for her and awaken in
him every particle of the old devotion.
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