He paused, for something about her face rather disconcerted him, and
he took her hand again in his.
"How could you expect to find me there, after reading my last
letter?"
"I still hoped that your good sense would prevent your taking such
an extraordinary step."
She smiled icily, and answered: "Is it so extraordinary, then, that I should desire to maintain my
self-respect?"
"It would not have been compromised by remaining where you were."
"I should scorn myself were I willing to live idly on the bounty of
one upon whom I have no claim."
"You are morbidly fastidious, Beulah."
Her eyes flashed, and, snatching her hand from his, she asked, with
curling lips: "Eugene, if I prefer to teach for a support, why
should you object?"
"Simply because you are unnecessarily lowering yourself in the
estimation of the community. You will find that the circle which a
residence under Dr. Hartwell's roof gave you the entree of, will
look down with contempt upon a subordinate teacher in a public
school--"
"Then, thank Heaven, I am forever shut out from that circle! Is my
merit to be gauged by the cost of my clothes or the number of
fashionable parties I attend, think you?"
"Assuredly, Beulah, the things you value so lightly are the
standards of worth and gentility in the community you live in, as
you will unfortunately find."
She looked at him steadily, with grief, and scorn, and wonder in her
deep, searching eyes, as she exclaimed: "Oh, Eugene! what has changed you so, since the bygone years when in
the asylum we talked of the future? of laboring, conquering, and
earning homes for ourselves! Oh, has the foul atmosphere of foreign
lands extinguished all your selfrespect? Do you come back sordid and
sycophantic, and the slave of opinions you would once have utterly
detested? Have you narrowed your soul and bowed down before the
miserable standard which every genuine, manly spirit must loathe?
Oh! has it come to this? Has it come to this?" Her voice was broken
and bitter, scalding tears of shame and grief gushed over her
cheeks.
"This fierce recrimination and unmerited tirade is not exactly the
welcome I was prepared to expect," returned Eugene haughtily; and,
rising, he took his hat from the table. She rose also, but made no
effort to detain him, and leaned her head against the mantelpiece.
He watched her a moment, then approached and put his hand on her
shoulder.
"Beulah, as a man I see the world and its relations in a far
different light from that in which I viewed it while a boy."