We're in the same case.If we only had some one to show us! It all seems so BLIND, here in Canaan, for him and me! I don't say it's not my own fault as much as being poor.I've been a hoyden;I don't feel as if I'd learned how to be a girl yet, Joe.It's only lately I've cared, but I'm seventeen, Joe, and--and to-day--to-day--I was sent home--and to-night--" She faltered, came to a stop, and her whole body was shaken with sobs.
"I hate myself so for crying--for everything!""I'll tell you something," he whispered, chuckling desperately."'Gene made me unpack his trunk, and I don't believe he's as great a man at college as he is here.I opened one of his books, and some one had written in it, `Prigamaloo Bantry, the Class Try-To-Be'! He'd never noticed, and you ought to have heard him go on! You'd have just died, Ariel--I almost bust wide open! It was a mean trick in me, but I couldn't help showing it to him."Joe's object was obtained.She stopped crying, and, wiping her eyes, smiled faintly.Then she became grave."You're jealous of Eugene," she said.
He considered this for a moment."Yes," he answered, thoughtfully, "I am.But I wouldn't think about him differently on that account.And I wouldn't talk about him to any one but you.""Not even to--" She left the question unfinished.
"No," he said, quietly."Of course not.""No? Because it wouldn't be any use?""I don't know.I never have a chance to talk to her, anyway.""Of course you don't!" Her voice had grown steady."You say I'm a fool.What are you?""You needn't worry about me," he began."Ican take care--""'SH!" she whispered, warningly.The music had stopped, a loud clatter of voices and laughter succeeding it.