It was not a _struggle_, for I gave that up at once;
only I had to fight pain. — It was one of the hardest things I
ever did in my life. And the worst of all and the, most
incurable was, I should miss seeing Mr. Thorold. One or two
more walks, possibly, I might have with him; but those long,
short, evenings of seeing and talking and dancing!
Mrs. Sandford argued, coaxed, and rallied me; and then said,
if I would not go, she should not; and she did not. That
evening we spent at home together, and alone; for everybody
else had drifted over to the hop. I suppose Mrs. Sandford
found it dull; for the next hop night she changed her mind and
left me. I had rather a sorrowful evening. Dr. Sandford had
not come back from the mountains; indeed I did not wish for
him; and Thorold had not been near us for several days. My
fairyland was getting disenchanted a little bit. But I was
quite sure I had done right.
The next morning I had hardly been three minutes on my rock by
the river, when Mr. Thorold came round the turn of the walk
and took a seat beside me.
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