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mer position of confidence and intimacy with
the girls, I broached the subject to him, getting
the preceding statement of his feelings (with a little
more) and � one extraordinary blunder.  He never
dreamed of the direction of little Nast�s aspirations,
supposing them devoted to �� Eliza!!!     He has
acted on that assumption all along.   I put him right
there, to his great satisfaction.      Went up into his
room, smoked a pipe, went out to Mc Pyke�s for beer
and didn�t separate till past 1.                    He knows
that his friends have thought he�s �sweet� on Sally;
(Parton has � Wells has � as I know �) but don�t
confess, perhaps to himself, how far it has gone;
anyway don�t desire to �speak for her� until his posi-
tion warrants it.    Maybe �� there�s some lingering
thought of another � even Eliza � in his head, but
not a hint of that did I drop.  Maybe it is only
a maybe: I got just a passing suspicion of it
from his talk of her doings with Nast at Grafton.
He seemed to resent those more than Matty�s � who
was equally familiar.                    I want the girls
to like me and am touched and gratified at their
little confidences.   Having no �little game� of my
own, I can look on less selfishly, as interestedly.
Moreover I want fair play.  And I should hate
to see Monroe, or Wells � or any weaker nature �
walk over the ground and win the prize, because
Haney from mistake or fastidiousness refrained