" Thus was provided the
hot-house atmosphere in which the tender exotic existed. It could not
be said that she had thrived or bloomed.
Graydon Muir was the one positive element with which she had come in
contact, and thus far she had always accepted him in the spirit of a
child. He had begun petting her and treating her like a sister when
she was a child. His manner toward her had grown into a habit, which
had its source in his kindly disposition. To him she was but a weak,
sickly little girl, with a dismal present and a more dreary outlook.
Sometimes he mentally compared her with the brilliant girls he met in
society, and especially with one but a little older than Madge, who
appeared a natural queen in the drawing-room. His life abounded in
activity, interests, and pleasures, and if it was his impulse to throw
a little zest into the experiences of those in society who had no
claims upon him, he was still more disposed to cheer and amuse the
invalid in his own home. Moreover, he had become sincerely fond of
her. Madge was neither querulous nor stupid. Although not conceited,
he had the natural vanity of a handsome and successful man, and while
the evident fact that he was such a hero in her eyes amused him, it
also predisposed him to kindly and sympathetic feeling toward her.
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