"
Maud came in flushed with the fresh air and rapid walking. Farnham saw
that she wore no glasses, and she gained more by that fact in his
good-will than even by the brilliancy of her fine eyes which seemed to
exult in their liberation. She began with nervous haste:
"I knew you had a meeting to-day, and I could not wait. I might as well
own up that I followed you home."
Farnham handed her a chair and took her hand with a kindly earnestness,
saying,
"I am very glad to see you."
"Yes, yes," she continued; "but have you any good news for me?"
The anxious eagerness which spoke in her sparkling eyes and open lips
touched Farnham to the heart. "I am sorry I have not. The board
appointed another person."
The tears sprang to her eyes.
"I really expected it. I hoped you would interest yourself."
"I did all I possibly could," said Farnham. "I have never tried so hard
for anybody before, but a majority were already pledged to the other
applicant."
She seemed so dejected and hopeless that Farnham, forgetting for a
moment how hard it is for a young man to assist a young woman, said two
or three fatal words, "We must try something else.
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