WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:04.400 This is section nineteen of The Gilded Age. This LibriVox 2 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:07.160 recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age, A 3 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:09.720 Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner, 4 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:15.320 Chapter nineteen. Mister Harry Brierly drew his pay as an 5 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:18.719 engineer while he was living at the City Hotel in Hawkeye. 6 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:22.320 Mister Thompson had been kind enough to say that it 7 00:00:22.359 --> 00:00:24.839 didn't make any difference whether he was in the corps 8 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:28.679 or not. And although Harry protested to the Colonel Daily 9 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:32.320 and to Washington Hawkins that he must go back at 10 00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:35.799 once to the line and superintend the layout with reference 11 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:39.079 to his contract, yet he did not go, but wrote 12 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:42.719 instead long letters to Philip instructing him to keep his 13 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:45.960 eye out and to let him know when any difficulty 14 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:50.560 occurred that required his presence. Meantime, Harry blossomed out in 15 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:53.840 the society of Hawkeye, as he did in any society 16 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:57.640 where fortune cast him, and he had the slightest opportunity 17 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:01.840 to expand. Indeed, the talents of a rich and accomplished 18 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:05.319 young fellow like Harry were not likely to go unappreciated 19 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:09.280 in such a place. A land operator engaged in vast 20 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:13.079 speculations a favorite in the select circles of New York 21 00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:17.680 in correspondence with brokers and bankers, intimate with public men 22 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:20.920 at Washington, one who could play the guitar and touch 23 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:23.760 the banjo lightly, and who had an eye for a 24 00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:27.319 pretty girl and knew the language of flattery was welcome 25 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:31.480 everywhere in Hawkeye. Even Miss Laura Hawkins thought it worth 26 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:35.239 while to use her fascinations upon him, and to endeavor 27 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:38.599 to entangle the volatile fellow in the meshes of her 28 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:44.319 attractions dead, said Harry to the Colonel. She's a superb creature. 29 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:47.599 She'd make a stir in New York. Money or no money. 30 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:50.599 There are men I know who'd give her a railroad 31 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:53.799 or an opera house, or whatever she wanted. At least 32 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:56.959 they'd promise. Harry had a way of looking at women 33 00:01:57.040 --> 00:01:59.560 as he looked at anything else in the world he wanted, 34 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:03.079 and he half resolved to appropriate Miss Laura during his 35 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:06.959 stay in Hawkeye. Perhaps the Colonel divined his thoughts or 36 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:10.960 was offended at Harry's talk, for he replied, no nonsense, 37 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:15.120 mister Brierly. Nonsense won't do in Hawkeye, not with my friends. 38 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:19.000 The Hawkins's blood is good blood. All the way from Tennessee. 39 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:22.680 The Hawkinses are under the weather now, but their Tennessee 40 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:26.759 property is millions when it comes into market. Of course, Colonel, 41 00:02:27.319 --> 00:02:30.039 not the least offense intended. But you can see she 42 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:33.319 is a fascinating woman. I was only thinking as to 43 00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:37.639 this appropriation. Now, what such a woman could do in Washington? 44 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:41.919 All correct, too, All correct, common thing, I assure you. 45 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:47.000 In Washington, the wives of senators, representatives, cabinet officers, all 46 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:50.759 sorts of wives, and some who are not wives use 47 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:54.000 their influence. You want an appointment, do you go to 48 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:57.360 Senator X? Not much you get on the right side 49 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:01.039 of his wife. Is it an appropriation? You'd go straight 50 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:04.159 to the committee or to the Interior Office. I suppose 51 00:03:04.919 --> 00:03:07.840 you'd learn better than that. It takes a woman to 52 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.919 get anything through the Land Office. I tell you, miss 53 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:14.360 Laura would fascinate an appropriation right through the Senate and 54 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:17.400 the House of Representatives in one session. If she was 55 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:21.199 in Washington as your friend, Colonel, of course, as your friend, 56 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:25.520 would you have her sign our petition? Asked the colonel innocently. 57 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:31.120 Harry laughed. Women don't get anything by petitioning Congress. Nobody does. 58 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:35.960 That's for form. Petitions are referred to somewhere, and that's 59 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.759 the last of them. You can't refer a handsome woman 60 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:42.240 so easily when she is present. They prefer em mostly. 61 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:46.240 The petition, however, was elaborately drawn up with a glowing 62 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:50.159 description of Napoleon and the adjacent country, and a statement 63 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:53.400 of the absolute necessity to the prosperity of that region, 64 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:56.360 and of one of the stations on the great through 65 00:03:56.439 --> 00:04:00.159 route to the Pacific, of the immediate improvement of Columbus River. 66 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:03.319 To this was appended a map of the city and 67 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:05.919 a survey of the river. It was signed by all 68 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:08.639 the people at Stone's Landing who could write their names, 69 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:12.520 by Colonel Bariah Sellers, and the colonel agreed to have 70 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:16.360 the names headed by all the senators and representatives from 71 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:19.439 the state, and by a sprinkling of ex governors and 72 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:23.800 ex members of Congress. When completed, it was a formidable document. 73 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:27.439 Its preparation and that of more minute plots of the 74 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:30.800 new city, consumed the valuable time of Sellers and Harry 75 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:34.120 for many weeks, and served to keep them both in 76 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:38.399 the highest spirits in the eyes of Washington Hawkins. Harry 77 00:04:38.519 --> 00:04:41.560 was a superior being a man who was able to 78 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:44.759 bring things to pass in a way that excited his enthusiasm. 79 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:48.160 He never tired of listening to his stories of what 80 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:50.839 he had done and of what he was going to do. 81 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:54.040 As for Washington, Harry thought he was a man of 82 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:58.160 ability and comprehension, but too visionary, he told the colonel. 83 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:00.879 The colonel said he might be right, but he had 84 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:04.680 never noticed anything visionary about him. He's got plans, sir, 85 00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:07.560 God bless my soul. At his age, I was full 86 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:11.879 of plans, but experience sobers a man. I never touch 87 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:15.399 anything now that hasn't been weighed in my judgment. And 88 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:18.439 when Mariah Sellers puts his judgment on a thing, there 89 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:22.920 it is whatever might have been Harry's intentions. With regard 90 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:25.959 to Laura, he saw more and more of her every day, 91 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:28.720 until he got to be restless and nervous when he 92 00:05:28.839 --> 00:05:32.560 was not with her. That consummate artist in passion allowed 93 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:36.160 him to believe that the fascination was mainly on his side, 94 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:40.199 and so worked upon his vanity while inflaming his ardor 95 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:44.319 that he scarcely knew what he was about. Her coolness 96 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:47.519 and coyness were even made to appear the simple precautions 97 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:50.920 of a modest timidity, and attracted him even more than 98 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:54.839 the little tenderness into which she was occasionally surprised. He 99 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:57.839 could never be away from her long day or evening, 100 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:02.040 and in a short time there intimacy was the town talk. 101 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:05.759 She played with him so adroitly that Harry thought she 102 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:08.800 was absorbed in love for him. And yet he was 103 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:12.199 amazed that he did not get on faster in his conquest. 104 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:15.759 And when he thought of it, he was piqued as well. 105 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:19.879 A country girl, poor enough, that was evident, living with 106 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:23.720 her family in a cheap and most unattractive frame house 107 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:29.040 such as Carpenter's build in America, scantily furnished and unadorned, 108 00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:33.600 without the adventitious aids of dress or jewels or the 109 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:37.800 fine manners of society. Harry couldn't understand it, but she 110 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:41.319 fascinated him and held him just beyond the line of 111 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:45.360 absolute familiarity. At the same time, while he was with her, 112 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:48.720 she made him forget that the Hawkins House was nothing 113 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:52.560 but a wooden tenement with four small square rooms on 114 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:55.800 the ground floor and a half story. It might have 115 00:06:55.839 --> 00:06:59.279 been a palace for aught, he knew. Perhaps Laura was 116 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:03.199 older than she was at any rate, at that ripe age, 117 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:06.600 when beauty in woman seems more solid than in the 118 00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:10.199 budding period of girlhood, and she had come to understand 119 00:07:10.279 --> 00:07:13.680 her powers perfectly, and to know exactly how much of 120 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:17.439 the susceptibility and archness of the girl it was profitable 121 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:21.199 to retain. She saw that many women with the best 122 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:25.959 intentions make a mistake of carrying too much girlishness into womanhood. 123 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:29.480 Such a woman would have attracted Harry at any time, 124 00:07:29.959 --> 00:07:33.360 but only a woman with a cool brain and exquisite 125 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:36.160 art could have made him lose his head in this way. 126 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:40.120 For Harry thought himself a man of the world, the 127 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:43.600 young fellow never dreamed that he was merely being experimented on. 128 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:47.000 He was to her a man of another society and 129 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:50.279 another culture, different from that she had any knowledge of, 130 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:53.360 except in books, and she was not unwilling to try 131 00:07:53.399 --> 00:07:57.360 on him the fascinations of her mind and person. For 132 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:01.160 Laura had her dreams. She detested the narrow limits in 133 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:04.839 which her lot was cast. She hated poverty. Much of 134 00:08:04.839 --> 00:08:08.079 her reading had been of modern works of fiction written 135 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:11.079 by her own sex, which had revealed to her something 136 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:14.959 of her own powers and given her indeed an exaggerated 137 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:18.399 notion of the influence, the wealth, the position a woman 138 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:22.480 may attain who has beauty and talent and ambition and 139 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:25.399 a little culture, and is not too scrupulous in the 140 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:29.279 use of them. She wanted to be rich, she wanted luxury, 141 00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:32.919 She wanted men at her feet her slaves, and she 142 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.919 had not, thanks to some of the novels she had read, 143 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:41.519 the nicest discrimination between notoriety and reputation. Perhaps she did 144 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:45.080 not know how fatal notoriety usually is to the bloom 145 00:08:45.159 --> 00:08:49.399 of womanhood. With the other Hawkins children, Laura had been 146 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:51.919 brought up in the belief that they had inherited a 147 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:55.399 fortune in the Tennessee lands. She did not, by any 148 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:58.480 means share all the delusion of the family, but her 149 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:02.639 brain was not seldom busy with schemes about it. Washington 150 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:04.960 seemed to her only to dream of it and to 151 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.399 be willing to wait for its riches to fall upon 152 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:11.200 him in a golden shower. But she was impatient and 153 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:14.000 wished she were a man to take hold of the business. 154 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:18.080 You men must enjoy your schemes and your activity and 155 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:21.120 liberty to go about the world, she said to Harry 156 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:23.799 one day, when he had been talking of New York 157 00:09:23.879 --> 00:09:28.320 and Washington and his incessant engagements. Oh yes, replied that 158 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:31.720 martyr to business. It's all well enough if you don't 159 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:35.240 have too much of it. But it only has one object. 160 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:38.960 What is that? If a woman doesn't know, it's useless 161 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:41.320 to tell her. What do you suppose I am staying 162 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:44.039 in Hawkeye for week after week when I ought to 163 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:47.519 be with my corps. I suppose it's your business with 164 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:52.000 Colonel Sellers about Napoleon. You've always told me, so, answered Laura, 165 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:55.679 with a look intended to contradict her words. And now 166 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:58.440 I tell you that is all arranged. I suppose you'll 167 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:02.120 tell me I ought to go Harry, exclaimed Laura, touching 168 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:04.840 his arm and letting her pretty hand rest there a moment. 169 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:07.600 Why should I want you to go away? The only 170 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:11.240 person in Hawkeye who understands me, but you refuse to 171 00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:15.320 understand me, replied Harry, flattered but still petulant. You are 172 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:19.480 like an Iceberg. When we are alone, Laura looked up 173 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:22.240 with wonder in her great eyes and something like a 174 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:25.519 blush suffusing her face, followed by a look of languor 175 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:29.039 that penetrated Harry's heart as if it had been longing? 176 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:33.320 Did I ever show any want of confidence in you, Harry? 177 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:37.519 And she gave him her hand, which Harry pressed with effusion. 178 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:40.159 Something in her manner told him that he must be 179 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:44.960 content with that favor. It was always so. She excited 180 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:49.159 his hopes and denied him, inflamed his passion and restrained it, 181 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:52.720 and wound him in her toils day by day. To 182 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:56.559 what purpose it was keen delight to Laura to prove 183 00:10:56.639 --> 00:10:59.960 that she had power over men. Laura liked to hear 184 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:02.519 hear about life at the East, and especially about the 185 00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:05.679 luxurious society in which mister Brierly moved when he was 186 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:09.480 at home. It pleased her imagination to fancy herself a 187 00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:12.559 queen in it. You should be a winter in Washington, 188 00:11:12.759 --> 00:11:16.720 Harry said, But I have no acquaintances there, don't know 189 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:19.639 any of the families of the congressmen. They like to 190 00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:23.720 have a pretty woman staying with them. Not one suppose 191 00:11:23.960 --> 00:11:27.919 Colonel Sellers should have business there. Say about this Columbus 192 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:33.639 River appropriation Sellers, and Laura laughed, you needn't laugh. Queer 193 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:37.519 things have happened. Sellers knows everybody from Mississippi and from 194 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:40.360 the West too. For that matter, he'd introduce you to 195 00:11:40.519 --> 00:11:43.480 Washington life quick enough. It doesn't need a crowbar to 196 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:46.519 break your way into society there, as it does in Philadelphia. 197 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:51.759 It's democratic. Washington is money or beauty will open any door. 198 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:55.039 If I were a handsome woman, I shouldn't want any 199 00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:57.360 better place than the Capital to pick up a prince 200 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:01.279 or a fortune. Thank you, replied eyed Laura. But I 201 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:04.279 prefer the quiet of home and the love of those 202 00:12:04.360 --> 00:12:07.120 I know. And her face wore a look of sweet 203 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:13.519 contentment and unworldliness that finished mister Harry Brierly for the day. Nevertheless, 204 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:16.320 the hint that Harry had dropped fell upon good ground 205 00:12:16.679 --> 00:12:20.720 and bore fruit an hundredfold. It worked in her mind 206 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:22.840 until she had built up a plan on it, and 207 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:26.679 almost a career for herself. Why not, she said, Why 208 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:29.480 shouldn't I do as other women have done? She took 209 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:32.919 the first opportunity to see Colonel Sellers and to sound 210 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:36.120 him about the Washington visit. How is he getting on 211 00:12:36.279 --> 00:12:39.399 with his navigation scheme? Would it be likely to take 212 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:45.440 him from home to Jefferson City or to Washington? Perhaps? Well, maybe, 213 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:48.720 if the people of Napoleon want me to go to Washington, 214 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:52.399 and look after that matter, I might tear myself from 215 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:56.240 my home. It's been suggested to me, but not a 216 00:12:56.279 --> 00:12:58.919 word of it to missus Sellers and the children. Maybe 217 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.480 they wouldn't like to think of their father in Washington. 218 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:06.879 But Dilworthy. Senator Dilworthy says to me, Colonel, you are 219 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:09.759 the man you could influence more votes than any one 220 00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:12.759 else on such a measure. An old settler, a man 221 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:16.039 of the people. You know the wants of Missouri. You've 222 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:19.200 a respect for religion too, says he, And know how 223 00:13:19.240 --> 00:13:22.240 the cause of the Gospel goes with improvements, which is 224 00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:25.159 true enough, Miss Laura, and hasn't been enough thought of 225 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:29.159 in connection with Napoleon. He's an able man, Dilworthy, and 226 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:31.799 a good man. A man has got to be good 227 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:35.159 to succeed as he has. He's only been in Congress 228 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:37.519 a few years, and he must be worth a million. 229 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:40.519 First thing in the morning, when he stayed with me, 230 00:13:40.679 --> 00:13:43.960 he asked about family prayers, whether we had him before 231 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:47.559 or after breakfast. I hated to disappoint the Senator, but 232 00:13:47.639 --> 00:13:50.320 I had to out with it, tell him we didn't 233 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:54.559 have him. Not steady, he said, he understood business interruptions. 234 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:57.960 And all that some men were well enough without. But 235 00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:01.080 as for him, he never neglected the order of religion. 236 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:05.039 He doubted if the Columbus River appropriation would succeed if 237 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:08.759 we did not invoke the divine blessing on it. Perhaps 238 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:12.120 it is necessary to say to the reader that Senator 239 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:15.279 Dilworthy had not stayed with Colonel Sellers while he was 240 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:18.799 in Hawkeye, this visit to his house being only one 241 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:23.120 of the Colonel's hallucinations, one of those instant creations of 242 00:14:23.159 --> 00:14:26.679 his fertile fancy, which were always flashing into his brain 243 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:29.720 and out of his mouth in the course of any conversation, 244 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:33.720 and without interrupting the flow of it. During the summer, 245 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:36.799 Philip rode across the country and made a short visit 246 00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:40.120 in Hawkeye, giving Harry an opportunity to show him the 247 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:42.799 progress that he and the Colonel had made in their 248 00:14:42.840 --> 00:14:46.440 operation at Stone's Landing, to introduce him also to Laura, 249 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:50.399 and to borrow a little money. When he departed, Harry 250 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:53.759 bragged about his conquest, as was his habit, and took 251 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:58.679 Philip Brown to see his western prize. Laura received mister 252 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:02.039 Philip with a courtesy and a slight hauteur that rather 253 00:15:02.120 --> 00:15:05.720 surprised and not a little interested him. He saw at 254 00:15:05.799 --> 00:15:08.639 once that she was older than Harry, and soon made 255 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:11.039 up his mind that she was leading his friend a 256 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:14.679 country dance to which he was accustomed. At least he 257 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:17.879 thought he saw that, and half hinted as much to Harry, 258 00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:21.039 who flared up at once. But on a second visit 259 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:24.720 Philip was not so sure. The young lady was certainly 260 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:28.919 kind and friendly, and almost confiding with Harry, and treated 261 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:32.960 Philip with the greatest consideration. She deferred to his opinions 262 00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:36.639 and listened attentively when he talked, and in time met 263 00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:39.799 his frank manner with an equal frankness, so that he 264 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:43.240 was quite convinced that whatever she might feel towards Harry, 265 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:47.600 she was sincere with him. Perhaps his manly way did 266 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:51.120 win her liking. Perhaps in her mind she compared him 267 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:53.919 with Harry and recognized in him a man to whom 268 00:15:53.960 --> 00:15:57.519 a woman might give her whole soul recklessly and with 269 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:01.360 little care if she lost it. Philip was not invincible 270 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:04.639 to her beauty, nor to the intellectual charm of her presence. 271 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:08.679 The week seemed very short that he passed in Hawkeye, 272 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:11.600 and when he bade Laura good bye. He seemed to 273 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:15.159 have known her a year. We shall see you again, 274 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:18.200 mister Sterling, she said, as she gave him her hand, 275 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:21.159 with just a shade of sadness in her handsome eyes, 276 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:24.159 And when he turned away, she followed him with a 277 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:27.679 look that might have disturbed his serenity if he had 278 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:30.080 not at the moment had a little square letter in 279 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:36.159 his breast pocket, dated at Philadelphia and signed Ruth. End 280 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:37.279 of Chapter nineteen.