It's only a
matter of a day or two, anyhow."
"I want more time than that. A month, anyhow."
And he found her curiously obstinate and determined. She did not
quite know herself why she demanded delay, except that she shrank
from delivering herself into hands that were so tender and might
be so cruel. It was instinctive, purely.
"A month," she said, and stuck to it.
He was rather sulky when he went away, and he had told her the exact
amount he had paid for her ring.
Having forced him to agree to the delay, she found her mood of
exaltation returning. As always, it was when he was not with he
that she saw him most clearly, and she saw his real need for her.
She had a sense of peace, too, now that at last something was
decided. Her future, for better or worse, would no longer be that
helpless waiting which had been hers for so long. And out of her
happiness came a desire to do kind things, to pat children on the
head, to give alms to beggars, and--to see Willy Cameron.
She came downstairs that afternoon, dressed for the street.
"I am going out for a little while, Aunt Nellie," she said, "and
when I come back I want to tell you something.
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