Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the city room.djvu/146

 "Here in the mountains, my dear boy," she said, "people are what they seem to be. They are nature's sons and daughters, and the truth is in them. 'Out in the world,' as you say, it is often different. Men and women say what they do not think and act what they do not feel, and we call it refinement and cultivation and civilization. It is not so with all, thank Heaven. Some are honest and true, and they keep alive in us the spirit of brotherhood that we all need. But the lack of more universal sincerity and loyalty makes life very hard for us sometimes. We are deceived in the persons we love, and we find out that we have loved not them, but what we thought they were. That is your case. You have thought and dreamed about this woman for six years. She has grown to be something very beautiful, very sweet, very real, in your life. That is because she was rooted in your heart and drew those qualities from it. Few women could realize your dream of her—least of all Dolorita. She is not in one single respect what you think she is. You are a strong man. You could not show your strength in a finer way than by