And then I went cold with jealousy and with despair ... one so popular could never see me ... if it were only later, when my fame as a poet had come!
"Vanna has to be waited on hand and foot. I don't mind though," continued Alice, "I hang up her clothes for her ... make her bed ... sweep and dust our rooms ... it makes me happy to wait on anything so beautiful!" and the face of the homely girl glowed with joy....
I was poor and miserable. I bent my head forward, forgetful of my determination to walk erect and proud, with a pride I did not possess.
Langworth was coming behind me. He slapped me on the back. I whirled, full of resentment. But changed the look to a smile when I perceived who it was....
"Why, Johnnie, what's the matter? you're walking like an old man. Brace up. Is anything wrong?"
"No, I was just thinking."
The first cold blasts of winter howled down upon us. No snow yet, but winds that rushed about the buildings on the hill, full of icy rain, and with a pushing strength like the shoulders of invisible giants out of the fourth dimension ... we men kept on the sidewalks when we could ... but the winds blew the girls off into the half-hardened mud, and, at times, were so violent, that the girls could not extricate themselves, but they stood still, waiting for help, their skirts whirling up into their very faces.