That she loved Graydon Muir was a truth for life. If he could
learn to love her from what she had sought to be, from what she simply
was, he should have the chance. Her own deep experience had taught her
much and given her the clew to many things. She had studied life, not
only in books, but in its actual manifestations. Mrs. Wayland was a
social mine in herself, and could recall from the past, volumes of
dispassionate gossip, free from malice. In two years Madge had learned
to know the world better than many who are in contact with it for long
periods, but who see all through the distorted medium of their own
prejudices or exceptional experiences. Although she was no longer
unsophisticated she was neither cynical nor optimistic. Before her
hope could be fulfilled she knew she must enter society, and she
studied it thoughtfully--its whims and meannesses as well as its laws
and refinements. If she ever reached Graydon's side she meant to stand
there with a knowledge and confidence as assured as his own. She soon
learned that it is common enough for women to seek to win men by every
alluring and coquettish device. She would employ no devices whatever.
She would merely reappear above his horizon among other luminaries,
and shine with her own pure, unborrowed light.
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