Why should he not have spoken?
what greater encouragement could he ask than the favor she herself had seen?
During his long absence another girl had apparently been waiting for him also, "But not working for him," she sighed, "and keeping herself aloof from all and everything that would render her less worthy.

While I sought to train heart, body, and soul to be a fit bride, she has dallied with every admirer she met, and now wins him without one hour of self-denial or effort.

It is more bitter than death to me.

It is cruelty to him, for that selfish girl will never make him happy.

Even after he marries her he will be only one among many, and the ballroom glare will be more to her than the light of her own hearth." Such thoughts had been in Madge's mind, and self-control had been no easy matter.