"There are more ways than one of spoiling it, dear."
Juliet was silent.
"He is not one to love lightly," said Mrs. Tracy. "You must have made him very unhappy."
"He is coming again in the spring," said Juliet, the words breaking from her involuntarily. The next moment she added quickly, "Don't let us speak any more about it. I wish it had not happened; but since it has, the only thing now is to forget it as soon as possible." She quitted the room as she spoke.
So the subject was dropped. Mrs. Tracy did not name Mr. Mainprice again, nor did Juliet ever allude to him; yet her mother doubted if she had succeeded in dismissing him from her mind. Juliet did not appear unhappy, but she was certainly unusually quiet and thoughtful. There was at times a wistful, far-away look on her face, of which her mother thought she knew the significance.
But for the most part Juliet was too busy to indulge in profitless dreaming or bitter retrospect. She was becoming a second Salome in her devotion to the poor. She was ready to undertake any work which Mrs. Staines, who since the garden-party at the Priory had treated Juliet with the utmost consideration, desired to give her. Willing workers have always full hands. Juliet was no exception to the rule, for the winter was severe, even in sheltered St. Anne's, and there was much suffering amongst the poor.
Whether the wintry weeks passed swiftly for her because she was so busy, Mrs. Tracy could not tell. She herself found them drag heavily. But she saw that Juliet was on the watch for signs of spring's awakening in their little garden.
One day she brought her mother two or three snowdrops, which had ventured to push their dainty heads above the heavy clods.
"What lovely harbingers of the spring!" said Mrs. Tracy, as she took them.
"If you could feel how keen the wind is as it blows up the road, you would not think spring was near," said Juliet. "There will be snow again soon."