THE APPLE TREE GIRL
her head. "People have to be smart and think of themselves if they want to get on in the world. He was thinking of himself when he asked me, and I was thinking of myself when I ran away. … All the same, I'm glad I didn't have to practice on him. It was a horrid idea, and I'm glad I didn't have to. And I've found that a man can love me if he likes me—yes, homely as I am—and that's an awful lot to know."
It was knowledge, indeed, that gave her a deeper hold on life. Even as she swung down the fields to the farm, there seemed to be a greater sense of assurance in her poise, a prouder tilt to the angle of her chin; and in the next few weeks the Faithful Seven might have seen greater depths of tenderness in her eyes, especially when she turned to answer a question after looking through the window at the blue sky which hung over the old Marlin elms outside.
"I'm glad he hasn't come back," said
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