I do n't want to be haggard and hollow-eyed at that important interview tomorrow -- an interview that will decide my destiny . * * * * * Thrush Hill , May 6 , 18 -- . Well , it did decide it , but not exactly in the way I anticipated . I can look back on the whole affair quite calmly now , but I would n't live it over again for all the wealth of Ind. . That day when Gus Sinclair came I was all ready for him . I had put on my very prettiest new gown to do honour to the occasion , and Alicia smilingly assured me I was looking very well . `` And so cool and composed . Will you be able to keep that up ? Do n't you really feel a little nervous , Katherine ? '' `` Not in the least , '' I said . `` I suppose I ought to be , according to traditions , but I never felt less flustered in my life . '' When Bessie brought up Gus Sinclair 's card Alicia dropped a pecky little kiss on my cheek , and pushed me toward the door . I went down calmly , although I 'll admit that my heart was beating wildly . Gus Sinclair was plainly nervous , but I was composed enough for both . You would really have thought that I was in the habit of being proposed to by a millionaire every day . `` I suppose you know what I have come to say , '' he said , standing before me , as I leaned gracefully back in a big chair , having taken care that the folds of my dress fell just as they should . And then he proceeded to say it in a rather jumbled-up fashion , but very sincerely . I remember thinking at the time that he must have composed the speech in his head the night before , and rehearsed it several times , but was forgetting it in spots . When he ended with the self-same question that Jack had asked me three months before at Thrush Hill he stopped and took my hands . I looked up at him .
His good , homely face was close XXXXX mine , and in his eyes was an unmistakable look of love and tenderness .
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