She had achieved the wonder without aid from him,
and so of course had not felt the need of his help in any way. In
remembrance of the past he felt that he had not deserved to be so
ignored. Her profession of friendship was all well enough--there could
scarcely be less than that--but the Madge he had looked forward to
meeting again as of old no longer existed. Oh, yes, she should have
admiration and exclamation points to her heart's content, but he had
come from his long exile hungry for something more and better
than young lady friends. He had long since had a surfeit of these
semi-Platonic affinities. The girl who apparently had been refusing
scores of men for his sake was more to his taste. His brother's
repugnance only irritated and incited him, and he thought, "I'll carry
out his business policy to the utmost, but away from the office I am
my own man."
As these thoughts passed through his mind, they began to impart to his
manner a tinge of gallantry, the beginning of a departure from his old
fraternal and affectionate ways. He was too well-bred to show pique
openly, or to reveal a sense of injury during the first hours of
reunion, but he already felt absolved from being very attentive to
a girl who not only had proved so conclusively that she could manage
admirably for herself, but who also had been so indifferent that she
had not needed his sympathy in her efforts or thought it worth while
to gladden him with a knowledge of her progress.
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