I have been wanting to see her ever so much, and was afraid something was the matter with her, especially as you did not come for your dog." As Ralph was explaining his apparent ungraciousness, Dora's soul was roughly shaken.

She was angry with him and wanted to show it, but she saw clearly that this would be unsafe.

Her hold upon him was very slight, and a few unwise words now might make him no more than a mere acquaintance.
She did not wish to say words that would do that, but if she held him by a cord ever so slender, she would obey the promptings of her soul and endeavor to draw him a little toward her.

She would take the risks of that, for if he drifted away from her, the cord would be as likely to break as if she drew upon it.
"Oh yes," she said, "I knew all the time why you and Miriam did not come to make a regular society call, but I did suppose that you would drop in to see about Congo.

As soon as I got home, after I promised him to you, I began to educate him to cease to care for me, and to care for you.