Page:Contending Forces by Pauline Hopkins.djvu/311

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WHAT EASTER SUNDAY BROUGHT.
303

CHAPTER XVIII.

WHAT EASTER SUNDAY BROUGHT.


'Twas Easter Sunday. The full-blossomed trees
Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy.
Longfellow

The days passed very quietly at No. 500 D Street. The excitement occasioned by the fair, and the extraordinary agitation which had attended the meeting of the American Colored League, had somewhat abated. Softer thoughts and feelings had taken possession of the public mind, for it was very near to the celebration of Easter. The two girls, Dora and Sappho, felt restrained in their intercourse because, although by tacit consent nothing was said of John's treacherous conduct toward Dora, each knew that the other had discovered it. Dora felt aggrieved and ill-treated; and who could blame her? Doctor Lewis was drawn into the trouble through his attachment to Dora. He pitied her injured feelings; he knew that if she were free and he offered her his love, it would be accepted, and he was not too proud to have done this if it had been an honorable act. He knew that it would not be an honorable act to