A Song of a Single Note: A Love StoryBarr, Amelia E.
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A Song of a Single Note: A Love Story
Barr, Amelia E.
Fiction; Love stories
It was not Harry that she was fretted at, it was Agnes. She felt that in
some way Agnes had deceived her. She had not said secrecy would include
hours of rebel conversation--"and I wonder at myself for listening to
it," said the little woman angrily. "I suppose it was Mr Deane--men talk
women down. I know I should not have let Agnes talk in that way to
me--just as if I believed all he said! If Uncle Neil had been there, he
would have scattered every word to the four winds with little trouble.
And," she continued, with rising temper, "I don't think Agnes acts
fairly to Uncle Neil. He is her devoted lover, and she knows it, she
must know it. People don't walk slowly up and down in the moonlight and
not know such things. I am, they say, only a child, but I have walked
with Captain Macpherson in the moonlight, and I know how amiable it
makes me feel. I am disappointed in Agnes!" and she really felt at that
moment as if her friend had done her some great wrong. So much easier is
it to blame others than to look deep down into our own hearts for the
reason of dissatisfaction. For whenever we are disappointed, we are
disappointed with ourselves, though we may not admit it.
When she entered the Semple garden she was encompassed with the
delicious perfume of carnations. Then she remembered that they were her
grandfather's favorite flower, and that before the war his garden had
been a wonder and delight with their beauty and fragrance. And in some
subtle way, the flowers made an avenue for a spiritual influence, more
in accord with the natural uprightness of the girl's nature. She sighed
and sauntered through the scented space, and as she did so, began to
make her confession. "Perhaps it was my fault--perhaps I was just a
little jealous--it is not pleasant to be the outside one; if Captain
Macpherson, or even that stupid Lord Medway had been my servant
I should not have felt so small; but that was not the fault of
Agnes--nevertheless, Agnes ought not to treat Uncle Neil badly."
It was a kind of inconsequent reasoning, but it restored her to
herself, and she entered the house very cheerfully, looking into the
parlor first of all, to see whom she could find to talk to. All the
rooms down stairs were sweet with the same enthralling odor of
carnations; but they were dusky, silent and empty; and she went to her
grandmother's room on the second floor. "Are you awake, dear
grandmother?" she asked, as she tapped gently on the door.
"Come in, dearie," was the answer, and Madame raised herself from the
bed as Maria entered and went to a large chair by the open window. "It
is hotter than needs be," she said, "and I have had company."
"Who has been here, grandmother?"
"Mrs. Jermyn brought us an invitation to the Bayards. It is for a three
days' visit."
"I am so happy. I have heard about Colonel Bayard's fine house on the
Heights; you will surely go, grandmother?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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