Page:Stanwood Pier--The ancient grudge.djvu/177

166 show you the peril of deliberate chivalry, I can't resist. Mrs. Dinsmore is stupid and not very well bred. This afternoon she called on me, and after working round to the subject of you and what a standard you would have to live up to, she expressed a fear that you were—were rather inconstant in your friendships. Her daughter had been led to think—your interest seemed to be such—that—that—well, that you cared somewhat for her, and the thought had made her quite happy; and then suddenly you ceased to show an interest—she could not imagine in what way she had been to blame; and she has felt hurt and grieved ever since."

"Oh Lord!" cried Floyd, exasperated and distressed. "What did you say?"

"I was n't able to spare her feelings as much as I should have liked; one can't with a person of that kind. I said that I was sure you had no idea of being in love with any one,—you were hardly more than a boy anyway,—and if you had been attentive to her daughter, it had very likely been because of your kindness of heart; and if you had discontinued your attentions, it had probably been because some one else appeared who needed them even more. Of course I did not put it as brutally as that, but I conveyed to her what was, I am glad to know, the truth."

"What ought I to do?" exclaimed Hoyd, sincerely wretched. "It seems as if I ought to go to the girl—"

"Oh dear, no!" cried his grandmother. "Let it drop, and free yourself gently but firmly from any other entanglements that you may have got into through compassion. It was only because it was you, Floyd, that this happened. Your friend, Mr. Bergen, who was here to-night, might have acted toward Miss Dinsmore exactly as you have done, and she would not have felt grieved and hurt; the dream of love would not have been awakened in her young heart, and her mother would not have gone to Mrs. Bergen with a complaint. Mr. Bergen has