It was of no avail that Mrs. Fraley
condemned her own judgment in not having advised Eunice to stay at
home and leave the young people free, and that Miss Prince made a
feeble protest for politeness' sake,--the pleasure-makers could not be
called back.
Nan had really grown into a great liking for George Gerry. She often
thought it would have been very good to have such a brother. But more
than one person in the audience thought they had never seen a braver
young couple; and the few elderly persons of discretion who had gone
to the play felt their hearts thrill with sudden sympathy as our
friends went far down the room to their seats. Miss Fraley was almost
girlish herself, and looked so pleased and bright that everybody who
cared anything about her smiled when they caught sight of her, she was
so prim and neat; it was impossible for her, under any circumstances,
to look anything but discreet and quaint; but as for Nan, she was
beautiful with youth and health; as simply dressed as Miss Eunice, but
with the gayety of a flower,--some slender, wild thing, that has
sprung up fearlessly under the great sky, with only the sunshine and
the wind and summer rain to teach it, and help it fulfill its
destiny,--a flower that has grown with no painful effort of its own,
but because God made it and kept it; that has bloomed because it has
come in the course of its growth to the right time. And Miss Eunice,
like a hindered little house-plant, took a long breath of delight as
she sat close by her kind young friend, and felt as if somebody had
set her roots free from their familiar prison.
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