"O, Annie, I forgot to tell you I received a visit from Dora,
yesterday; she is very unhappy on account of Charles Stanley's
conduct. She did not wish to go to the ball, on account of her
father's death, and he waited upon Eveline Houghton--then left for
Turner without calling to see Dora."
"Indeed, I thought they were to be married this fall?"
"Such has been the report; but as she has not seen or heard from him
since, she does not know how to construe his conduct towards her."
"When Orville was returning from his eastern tour, he came across
Charles, in Portland, and rode with him a short distance. He sent Dora
a present by him, but told him nothing of the transaction. She came to
me in hopes of hearing something more definite from him."
"How does the poor girl bear it?"
"She is very unhappy, and says she is not ashamed to have people know
she had been deceived; but many tell her they wouldn't mind anything
about it."
"They may say so," said Annie, raising her dark eyes to Edith, while a
deeper flush suffused her cheek; "but, Edith, I tell you, it will wear
and wear upon the secret springs of life, till it bears its victim to
the grave."
Edith gazed upon her with such an anxious, pitying expression, that
she felt she had betrayed her own secret, and bending her head to hide
her blushes, she picked up the mellow, golden colored fruit that lay
around her, and commenced rolling them down into the stream that
flowed at their feet.
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