encouragement. I will be that happy man, Polly." And with that he dropped on his knees and said, "Polly, will you be my wife?"
Now, Lucie, of course, this was perfectly ridiculous, and who could imagine Lennox Vandewater behaving so? I don't know what made me do what I did, except that I had been under a severe strain with Nannie, and was rather unstrung, but instead of laughing I burst into a fit of hysterical crying. Lennox came to his senses—and his feet—immediately. When I got myself pulled together again I thought we might as well "have it out" then and there, and I prayed that I might say the right thing. I told him how much I admired him, and valued his friendship, and that I had really, honestly tried to love him, but I couldn't—in that way. I told him about the imaginary scenes I had gone through with him, in which he announced his proposed departure to South Africa as a missionary (only I really think Lennox isn't an ideal missionary), and that I had always gone through the parting without a pang. I told him I longed to hear of his marriage; and I was going on to use further arguments to convince him that I didn't love him, but at this point he said, Well, I guess you needn't rub it in any more, Polly," and I looked up and saw that his face was quite white. I can't tell you the rest, but—I don't think Lennox will propose to me again, though we—well, we "parted friends."
Now, my dear Lucie, that was the tale I told to those russet shoes. . . . Was ever anything so—oh, words fail!
And Nannie, you know, has always believed I some day would marry Lennox, so it was about as hard to convince her that I couldn't love him as it had been to convince him. Luckily, it didn't take six years in her case; though, if it had, those russet shoes would have starved to death instead of living to tell the tale. That would have been some comfort. After all this conversation Nannie was so "low in her mind" about my affairs that I put forth my best efforts at entertaining her, and actually made her laugh telling her about Billy's and my experiences on the ranch. And then the whole day was spoiled by this awful discovery. I'm sure I know now exactly how a woman feels when she finds the long-looked-for man under the bed. This,
