The great day came. He had her notes, her suggestions, her hints, but she had no intimation of what he would finally say.
"Will you come to hear me?" he asked.
"No," she murmured.
"That is best," he said, and then he added slowly, "I would not like you ever to despise me."
She answered sharply: "I want to despise you!"
Did he understand? She was not sure. She was sorry she had said it; but she meant it fiercely. Then he left her, for it was already four in the afternoon and he spoke at eight.
In the morning she came down early, despite some dawdling over her toilet. She brought the morning paper into the dining-room and sat down with it, sipping her coffee. She leaned back and looked leisurely at the headings. There was nothing on the front page but a divorce, a revolution, and a new Trust. She took another sip of her coffee, and turned the page. There it was, "Colored High Schools Close--Vicious Attack on Republican Party by Negro Orator."
She laid the paper aside and slowly finished her coffee. A few minutes later she went to her desk and sat there so long that she started at hearing the clock strike nine.
The day passed. When she came home from school she bought an evening paper. She was not surprised to learn that the Senate had rejected Alwyn's nomination; that Samuel Stillings had been nominated and confirmed as Register of the Treasury, and that Mr. Tom Teerswell was to be his assistant. Also the bill reorganizing the school board had passed. She wrote two notes and posted them as she went out to walk.
When she reached home Stillings was there, and they talked earnestly. The bell rang violently. Teerswell rushed in.
"Well, Carrie!" he cried eagerly.
"Well, Tom," she responded, giving him a languid hand. Stillings rose and departed. Teerswell nodded and said: "Well, what do you think of last night?"
"A great speech, I hear."
"A fool speech--that speech cost him, I calculate, between twenty-four and forty-eight thousand dollars."
"Possibly he's satisfied with his bargain."
"Possibly. Are you?"
"With his bargain?" quickly. "Yes."
"No," he pressed her, "with your bargain?"
"What bargain?" she parried.
"To marry him."
"Oh, no; that's off."
"Is it off?" cried Teerswell delightedly. "Good! It was foolish from the first--that black country--"
"Gently," Miss Wynn checked him. "I'm not yet over the habit."
"Come. See what I've bought. You know I have a salary now." He produced a ring with a small diamond cluster.
"How pretty!" she said, taking it and looking at it. Then she handed it back.