"
"Oh, no, I didn't mean--"
"That's precisely what you do mean. I'm so plainly labelled 'worthless'
that you don't have to stop to examine me. You--"
"I didn't--"
"I beg your pardon. I can tell you exactly what you think of me: A young
fool who runs after the latest sensation, to drop it when he finds a
newer one. His head turned by every pretty girl--to whom he says just
the sort of thing he has said to you to-night. Superficial and ordinary,
incapable of serious thought on any of the subjects that interest you.
As for this business affair in Eastman--that's just a caprice, a game to
be dropped when he tires of it. Everything in life will be like that to
him, including his very friends. Come, now--isn't that what you've been
thinking? There's no use denying it. Nearly every time I've seen you
you've said some little thing that has shown me your opinion of me. I
won't say there haven't been times in my life when I may have deserved
it, but on my honour I don't think I deserve it now."
"Then I won't think it," said Roberta promptly, looking up. "I truly
don't want to do you an injustice. But you are so different from the
other men I have known--my brothers, my friends--that I can hardly
imagine your seeing things from my point of view--"
"But you can see things from mine without any difficulty!"
"It isn't fair, is it?" Her tone was that of the comrade, now.
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