Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

encouragingly from his corner, for he and his brother were better

friends than even since the little scene at the Van Tassels’.

“Hear! Hear!” cried Steve, looking more than ever like a cheerful

young cockerel trying to crow as he stood upon the hearth rug with

his hands under his coat tails, rising and falling alternately upon

the toes and heels of his neat little boots.

“Come, you’ve given them each a pat on the head haven’t you got

one for me? I need it enough, for if ever there was a poor devil

born under an evil star, it is C. C. Campbell,” exclaimed Charlie,

leaning his chin on his cue with a discontented expression of

countenance, for trying to be good is often very hard work till one

gets used to it.

“Oh, yes! I can accommodate you.” And, as if his words suggested

the selection, Mac, still lying flat upon his back, repeated one of

his favorite bits from Beaumont and Fletcher, for he had a

wonderful memory and could reel off poetry by the hour together.

“Man is his own star; and the soul that can

Render an honest and a perfect man

Commands all light, all influence, all fate.

Nothing to him falls early or too late.

Our acts our angels are; or good or ill,

Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.?

“Confoundedly bad angels they are too,” muttered Charlie ruefully,

remembering the one that undid him.

His cousins never knew exactly what occurred on New Year’s

night, but suspected that something was amiss, for Charlie had the

blues, and Rose, though as kind as ever, expressed no surprise at

his long absences. They had all observed and wondered at this

state of things, yet discreetly made no remark till Steve, who was

as inquisitive as a magpie, seized this opportunity to say in a

friendly tone, which showed that he bore no malice for the dark

prophecy regarding his Kitty’s faithfulness: “What’s the trouble,

Prince? You are so seldom in a bad humor that we don’t know

what to make of it and all feel out of spirits when you have the

blues. Had a tiff with Rose??

“Never you mind, little boy, but this I will say the better women

are, the more unreasonable they are. They don’t require us to be

saints like themselves, which is lucky, but they do expect us to

render an ‘honest and a perfect man’ sometimes, and that is asking

rather too much in a fallen world like this,” said Charlie, glad to

get a little sympathy, though he had no intention of confessing his

transgressions.

“No, it isn’t,” said Mac, decidedly.

“Much you know about it,” began Charlie, ill pleased to be so

flatly contradicted.

“Well, I know this much,” added Mac, suddenly sitting up with his

hair in a highly disheveled condition. “It is very unreasonable in us

to ask women to be saints and then expect them to feel honored

when we offer them our damaged hearts or, at best, one not half as

good as theirs. If they weren’t blinded by love, they’d see what a

mean advantage we take of them and not make such bad bargains.?

“Upon my word, the philosopher is coming out strong upon the

subject! We shall have him preaching ‘Women’s Rights’ directly,”

said Steve, much amazed at this outburst.

“I’ve begun, you see, and much good may it do you,” answered

Mac, laying himself placidly down again.

“Well, but look here, man you are arguing on the wrong side,” put

in Archie, quite agreeing with him, but feeling that he must stand

by his order at all costs.

“Never mind sides, uphold the right wherever you find it. You

needn’t stare, Steve I told you I was going to look into this matter,

and I am. You think I’m wrapped up in books, but I see a great deal

more of what is going on around me than you imagine, and I’m

getting on in this new branch, let me tell you, quite as fast as is

good for me, I daresay.?

“Going in for perfection, are you?” asked Charlie, both amused and

interested, for he respected Mac more than he owned even to

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