81
	Speculations about It.
She could never have reckoned him up so coolly;
dismissed the idea of him so completely on the dis-
covery of his supposed deception in regard to the
Sarah Gay matter.       When we were at Grafton,
she supposed the chances of Tommy�s return
or that he would return unchanged in
sentiment so dubious, that he had really become quite indis-
tinct to her.    She made no scruple in telling
me all about him.    Now she regrets that, and
resents her having confided in me; probably
distrusts that I have cackled to Haney (in
which she is signally mistaken) and instead
of compelling Nast to acknowledge me, has been
won to accepting his dislike � or something akin
to it.    It�s like taking the Tartar priso-
ner.       The girl, never too happy, or too loving,
springing from a union which could hardly have
originated in simple affection (for Mrs. Edwards
must know the intellectual calibre of her husband,
and could hardly have loved him, though he
was a good looking, prosperous man in those days,
and she a governess) � the girl, never a favor-
ite at home, mentally developed by overmuch
acceptation of Thackeray in his not highest
sense, chafing at Nicholas� soft-headedness,
and feeling that she is over twenty � (a fright-