He immediately felt that he had got to do something to comfort
her. That was his job in life. He was desperately unhappy himself
and it seemed to him the most natural thing in the world that they
should pool their sorrows. He was quite democratic; the idea of
the difference in their station never seems to have occurred to
him. He began to talk to her. He discovered that her young man
had been seen walking out with Annie of Number 54. He moved
over to her side of the carriage. He told her that the report
probably wasn't true; that, after all, a young man might take a walk
with Annie from Number 54 without its denoting anything very
serious. And he assured me that he felt at least quite half-fatherly
when he put his arm around her waist and kissed her. The girl,
however, had not forgotten the difference of her station.
All her life, by her mother, by other girls, by schoolteachers, by the
whole tradition of her class she had been warned against
gentlemen. She was being kissed by a gentleman. She screamed,
tore herself away; sprang up and pulled a communication cord.
Edward came fairly well out of the affair in the public estimation;
but it did him, mentally, a good deal of harm.
Pages:
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215