It was the evening meal, and I left immediately that I had eaten, observing I supposed she would prefer to be alone; to which she agreed and (strange as it may seem) I quite believed her.

Indeed, I thought myself but an eyesore to the girl, and a reminder of a moment's weakness that she now abhorred to think of.

So she must sit alone in that room where she and I had been so merry, and in the blink of that chimney whose light had shone upon our many difficult and tender moments.

There she must sit alone, and think of herself as of a maid who had most unmaidenly proffered her affections and had the same rejected.

And in the meanwhile I would be alone some other place, and reading myself (whenever I was tempted to be angry) lessons upon human frailty and female delicacy.