There seemed to be a sort of inevitableness about the visit; Nan
herself hardly knew why she was drifting on day after day without
reasonable excuse. Her time had been most carefully ordered and spent
during the last few years, and now she sometimes had an uneasy feeling
and a lack of confidence in her own steadfastness. But everybody took
it for granted that the visit must not come to an end. The doctor
showed no sign of expecting her. Miss Prince would be sure to resent
her going away, and the pleasure-makers marked one day after another
for their own. It seemed impossible, and perhaps unwise, to go on with
the reading she had planned, and, in fact, she had been urged to
attend to her books rather by habit than natural inclination; and when
the temptation to drift with the stream first made itself felt, the
reasons for opposing it seemed to fade away. It was easier to remember
that Dr. Leslie, and even those teachers who knew her best at the
medical school, had advised a long vacation.
The first formal visits and entertainments were over with for the most
part, and many of the Dunport acquaintances began to seem like old
friends. There had been a little joking about Nan's profession, and
also some serious remonstrance and unwise championship which did not
reach this heroine's ears. It all seemed romantic and most unusual
when anybody talked about her story at all, and the conclusion was
soon reached that all such whims and extravagances were merely
incident to the pre-Dunportian existence, and that now the young guest
had come to her own, the responsibilities and larger field of activity
would have their influence over her plan of life.
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