"Great Jehosaphat! She really thinks that, does
she? Well, dog my cats! What put that idea into her head?"
"I told her," said Nina calmly.
"You told her?" Claude turned and stared at her. She looked down,
and her face slowly grew to a deep red. She moved uneasily from
one foot to the' other, like an awkward, embarrassed child. As he
looked at her standing like a culprit before him, his first impulse
was to laugh. He was not specially refined, but he was a kindly
man, and it suddenly occurred to 'him that the girl was suffering.
"Well, you were mistaken," he said at last, gently enough. "I don't
know why you should think so, but I never thought of marrying
you-never thought of it."
The flush faded from her face, and she stopped swaying. She lifted
her eyes to his in a tearful, appealing stare.
"I t'ought so-you made me t'ink so."
"I did? How? I never said a word to you about-liking you
or-marrying-or anything like that. I-" He was going to tell her he
intended to marry Lucindy, but he checked himself.
Her lashes fell again, and the tears began to stream down her
cheeks. She knew the worst now. His face had convinced her. She
could not tell him the grounds of her belief-that every time he had
said, "I don't like to see a woman do -this or that," or, "I like to see
a woman fix up around the house," she had considered his words
in the light of courtship, believing that in such ways the Yankees
made love.
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