Page:A Girl of the Limberlost.djvu/305

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A NEW POSITION IS TENDERED
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"'Spend her time!'" repeated Ammon. "Well, she would call that a joke. Her days are never long enough. There is endless shopping, to find the pretty things; regular visits to the dressmakers, calls, parties, theatres, entertainments. She is always rushed. I never get to see half as much of her as I would like."

"But I mean work," persisted Elnora. "In what is she interested that is useful to the world?"

"Me!" cried Ammon promptly.

"I can understand that," laughed Elnora. "What I can't understand is how you can be in——" She stopped short in confusion, but she saw that he had finished the sentence as she had intended. "I beg your pardon!" she cried. "I didn't mean to say that. But I cannot understand these people I hear about who live only for their own amusement. Perhaps it is very great; I'll never have a chance to know. To me, it seems the only pleasure in this world worth having is the joy we get out of living for those we love, and those we can help. I hope you are not angry with me."

Ammon sat silently looking far away, with deep thought in his eyes.

"You are angry," faltered Elnora.

His look came back to her as she knelt before him among the flowers and he gazed at her steadily.

"No doubt I should be," he said, "but the fact is I am not. I cannot understand a life purely for personal pleasure myself. But she is only a girl, and this is her