covetous.
“Plenty of silver paper and perfume, but not much love went into
that bundle, I fancy?” And Dr. Alec could not help smiling at the
disdainful little gesture with which Rose pushed away the box.
“Not a particle, nor in most of these. I have given them what they
wanted and taken back the confidence and respect they didn’t care
for. It is wrong, I know, but I can’t bear to think all the seeming
goodwill and friendliness I’ve been enjoying was insincere and for
a purpose. That’s not the way I treat people.?
“I am sure of it. Take things for what they are worth, dear, and try
to find the wheat among the tares, for there is plenty if one knows
how to look. Is that all the trouble??
“No, sir, that is the lightest part of it. I shall soon get over my
disappointment in those girls and take them for what they are
worth as you advise, but being deceived in them makes me
suspicious of others, and that is hateful. If I cannot trust people I’d
rather keep by myself and be happy. I do detest maneuvering and
underhanded plots and plans!?
Rose spoke petulantly and twitched her silk till it broke, while
regret seemed to give place to anger as she spoke.
“There is evidently another thorn pricking. Let us have it out, and
then I’ll kiss the place to make it well as I used to do when I took
the splinters from the fingers you are pricking so unmercifully,”
said the doctor, anxious to relieve his pet patient as soon as
possible.
Rose laughed, but the color deepened in her cheeks as she
answered with a pretty mixture of maidenly shyness and natural
candor.
“Aunt Clara worries me by warning me against half the young men
I meet and insisting that they want only my money. Now that is
dreadful, and I won’t listen, but I can’t help thinking of it
sometimes, for they are very kind to me and I’m not vain enough to
think it is my beauty. I suppose I am foolish, but I do like to feel
that I am something besides an heiress.?
The little quiver was in Rose’s voice again as she ended, and Dr.
Alec gave a quick sigh as he looked at the downcast face so full of
the perplexity ingenuous spirits feel when doubt first mars their
faith and dims the innocent beliefs still left from childhood. He
had been expecting this and knew that what the girl just began to
perceive and try modestly to tell had long ago been plain to
worldlier eyes. The heiress was the attraction to most of the young
men whom she met. Good fellows enough, but educated, as nearly
all are nowadays, to believe that girls with beauty or money are
brought to market to sell or buy as the case may be.
Rose could purchase anything she liked, as she combined both
advantages, and was soon surrounded by many admirers, each
striving to secure the prize. Not being trained to believe that the
only end and aim of a woman’s life was a good match, she was a
little disturbed, when the first pleasing excitement was over, to
discover that her fortune was her chief attraction.
It was impossible for her to help seeing, hearing, guessing this
from a significant glance, a stray word, a slight hint here and there,
and the quick instinct of a woman felt even before it understood
the self-interest which chilled for her so many opening friendships.
In her eyes love was a very sacred thing, hardly to be thought of till
it came, reverently received and cherished faithfully to the end.
Therefore, it is not strange that she shrank from hearing it
flippantly discussed and marriage treated as a bargain to be
haggled over, with little thought of its high duties, great
responsibilities, and tender joys. Many things perplexed her, and
sometimes a doubt of all that till now she had believed and trusted
made her feel as if at sea without a compass, for the new world
was so unlike the one she had been living in that it bewildered