Possessing, however, considerable powers of self-control to the outward observer, there was little to mark the deep feelings of excitement working within, which only by a vigorous effort she was able at all to repress.
Until Sinclair made his appearance at the Ranch, followed shortly afterwards by the Bartons, she had seen very few of the male sex, except the labourers from time to time hired for the season by Ranger, with the appearance of none of whom had she been in the least favourably impressed. Her father and Ranger were her only male companions, if we except the youth called Tom, who was generally looked upon as a little "daft," and a common "butt" for everyone.
In the person of Ralph Sinclair, her woman's ready wit had been quick to discover a man of more than ordinary intelligence, capable of noble actions from honourable motives. Well-formed, and strongly-built, with a pair of dark, thoughtful-looking eyes beneath a broad, high forehead, his appearance won her admiration,—-a sentiment, circumstance, or feeling, known only to herself, and carefully hidden within the treasury of her own breast. But the feeling of admiration was not allowed long to sit solitary. It gathered strength, and rapidly developed into a warmer and more tender emotion, which the teaching of her sex, as well as her own natural modesty, would not allow her to confess to.
The attention given during the period of his illness and convalescence but tended to strengthen and confirm the feeling she had been led to cherish, adding volume and power to the influences which had been so forcibly working to prepare the way for an all too easy conquest.
The revelation of Ralph's delinquencies came at first as a great blow to her, as it threatened to rob her idol of some of the sterling qualities she had in her imagination invested him with. Quickly recovering from its effects she allowed her affections to centre on him with all the ardour of which her nature was capable, so that now she was contemplating marriage as the crown of true womanhood and the commencement of a useful and a happy life.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
"TILL DEATH DO US PART."
"That man ... who shall report he has
A better wife, let him in naught be trusted."
Henry VIII., Act II. sc. iv.
Since his last rebuff, John Barton had been vainly seeking an opportunity of meeting Mary Truman alone.
Her efforts to avoid him had been persistent and successful; but whether dictated by a spirit of mischief, which finds delight in tantalising the ardent swain, or from a mere desire to enjoy a little flirtation,—by some designated "harmless," but which at the best is dangerous and should be discouraged by the sex,—Barton felt at a loss to determine. Shakespeare says—