The Temptation of a Respectable Woman
Mrs.Baroda was a little annoyed to learn that her husband expected his friend, Gouvernail, up to spend a week or two on the plantation.
Gouvernail's quiet personality puzzled Mrs. Baroda. After a few days with him, she could understand him no better than at fist. She left her husband and his guest, for the most part, along together,only to find that Gouvernail hardly noticed her absence. Then she imposed her company upon him, accompanying him in his idle walks to the mill to press her attempt to penetrate the silence in which he had unconsciously covered himself. But it hardly worked.
"When is he going-your friend?"she one day asked her husband. "For my part, I find him a terrible nuisance."
"Not fot a week yet, dear. I can't understand; he gives you no trouble."
"No. I should like him better if he did-if he were more like others, and I had to plan somewhat for his comfort and enjoyment."
Gaston pulled the sleeve of his wife's dress, gathered his arms around her waist and looked merrily into her trouble eyes.
"You are full of surprises,"he said to her."Even I can never count upon how you are going to act under given conditions. Here you are," he went on, 'taking poor Gouvernail seriously and making a fuss about him, the last thing he would desire or expect. "
"Fuss! "she hotly replied. "Nonsense! How can you say such a thing! Fuss, indeed! But, you know,you said he was clever."
"So he is. But the poor fellow is run down by too much work now. That's why I asked him here to take a rest."
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