He thought of Joe sometimes, wondering rather vaguely why she had acted as
she had, and whether any other motive than pure sympathy with his work had
made her resent so violently Vancouver's position towards him. It was odd,
he thought, that an English girl should find such extreme interest in
American political doings, and then the scene in the dim sitting-room
during the ball came vividly back to his memory. It was not in his nature
to fancy that every woman who was taken with a fit of coughing was in love
with him, but the conviction formed itself in his mind that he might
possibly have fallen in love with Joe if things had been different. As it
was, he had put away such childish things, and meant to live out his years
of work, with their failure or success, without love and without a wife.
He would always be grateful to Joe, but that would be all, and he would be
glad to see her whenever an opportunity offered, just as he would be glad
to see any other friend. In this frame of mind he arrived in Newport on
the morning of the wedding, and reached the little church among the trees
just in time to witness the ceremony.
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