The doctor was silent for a moment.  Then he asked, “Were you dressed as you are now?”

“Yes, I was, except that I had a thin mantle over my shoulders.  I was out early, and I have always remembered your caution.”

“What color was your mantle?”

“It was black.  I have been over all this with Lucinda.  A black mantle on a white dress.  A straw hat with an old faded ribbon.  There can’t be much in those colors to trouble him, I should think, for his man wears a black coat and white linen,—­more or less white, as you must have noticed, and he must have seen ribbons of all colors often enough.  But Lurida believes it was the ribbon, or something in the combination of colors.  Her head is full of Tarantulas and Tarantism.  I fear that she will never be easy until the question is settled by actual trial.  And will you believe it? the girl is determined in some way to test her supposition!”

“Believe it, Euthymia?  I can believe almost anything of Lurida.  She is the most irrepressible creature I ever knew.  You know as well as I do what a complete possession any ruling idea takes of her whole nature.  I have had some fears lest her zeal might run away with her discretion.  It is a great deal easier to get into a false position than to get out of it.”

“I know it well enough.  I want you to tell me what you think about the whole business.  I don’t like the look of it at all, and yet I can do nothing with the girl except let her follow her fancy, until I can show her plainly that she will get herself into trouble in some way or other.  But she is ingenious,—­full of all sorts of devices, innocent enough in themselves, but liable to be misconstrued.  You remember how she won us the boat-race?”

“To be sure I do.  It was rather sharp practice, but she felt she was paying off an old score.  The classical story of Atalanta, told, like that of Eve, as illustrating the weakness of woman, provoked her to make trial of the powers of resistance in the other sex.  But it was audacious.  I hope her audacity will not go too far.  You must watch her.  Keep an eye on her correspondence.”

The doctor had great confidence in the good sense of Lurida’s friend.  He felt sure that she would not let Lurida commit herself by writing foolish letters to the subject of her speculations, or similar indiscreet performances.  The boldness of young girls, who think no evil, in opening correspondence with idealized personages is something quite astonishing to those who have had an opportunity of knowing the facts.  Lurida had passed the most dangerous age, but her theory of the equality of the sexes made her indifferent to the by-laws of social usage.  She required watching, and her two guardians were ready to check her, in case of need.

XVI

Miss Vincent writes A letter.

Euthymia noticed that her friend had been very much preoccupied for two or three days.  She found her more than once busy at her desk, with a manuscript before her, which she turned over and placed inside the desk, as Euthymia entered.