Page:Maud Howe - A Newport Aquarelle.djvu/152

 soul who sat opposite her had been a beauty, too, in her day, but what trace was left of her lost graces! She sighed again, at which unusual sound Mrs. Fallow-Deer put down her teacup and, looking searchingly at Gladys, said slowly and solemnly,—

"My dear, it is my private opinion that you are in love."

Gladys laughed. "I wish I were," she cried half bitterly, half in jest. "Like Patience, I am quite ignorant of the sensation of the tender passion. I have never been in love."

"That is nonsense, my dear; however, it is a nonsense that all girls talk, and I suppose I can't expect you to be wiser than your kind. But seriously, my child, are you not thinking a good deal about somebody?"

"Yes, but that somebody is myself."

"Of course it is always so with a girl who has no business to be a girl any longer. I have had something of your experience, Gladys, and my advice ought not to be