Perkins had never forgotten nor
forgiven his defeat at the turnip-hoeing, which he attributed chiefly to
Cameron. His gibes at Cameron's awkwardness in the various operations
on the farm, his readiness to seize every opportunity for ridicule, his
skill at creating awkward situations, all these sensibly increased the
wear on Cameron's spirit. All these, however, Cameron felt he could put
up with without endangering his self-control, but when Perkins, with
vulgar innuendo, chaffed the farmer's daughter upon her infatuation
for the "young Scotty," as he invariably designated Cameron, or when
he rallied Cameron upon his supposed triumph in the matter of Mandy's
youthful affections, then Cameron raged and with difficulty kept his
hands from his cheerful and ever smiling tormentor. It did not
help matters much that apparently Mandy took no offense at Perkins'
insinuations; indeed, it gradually dawned upon Cameron that what to him
would seem a vulgar impertinence might to this uncultured girl appear no
more than a harmless pleasantry. At all costs he was resolved that under
no circumstances would he allow his self-control to be broken through.
He would finish out his term with the farmer without any violent
outbreak. It was quite possible that Perkins and others would take him
for a chicken-hearted fool, but all the same he would maintain this
attitude of resolute self-control to the very end.
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