She had a little air of triumph at having defeated me . `` I have to go now and see about putting away the milk , and I dare say you 're not sorry to be rid of me , '' she said , with a demureness I had not credited her with , `` but if you come to the verandah in half an hour I 'll bring you out a glass of new milk and some pound cake I made today by a recipe that 's been in the family for one hundred years , and I hope it will choke you for all the snubs you 've been giving me . '' She walked away after this amiable wish , and I stood by the pond till the salmon tints faded from its waters and stars began to mirror themselves brokenly in its ripples . The mellow air was full of sweet , mingled eventide sounds as I walked back to the house . Aunt Lucy was knitting on the verandah . Gussie brought out cake and milk and chatted to us while we ate , in an inconsequent girlish way , or fed bits of cake to a green-eyed goblin in the likeness of a black cat . She appeared in such an amiable light that I was half inclined to reconsider my opinion of her . When I went to my room the vase full of crimson leaves on my table suggested Gussie , and I repented of my unfriendliness for a moment -- and only for a moment . Gussie and her mother passed through the hall below , and Aunt Lucy 's soft voice floated up through my half-open door . `` Well , how do you like your cousin , my dear ? '' Whereat that decided young lady promptly answered , `` I think he is the most conceited youth I 've met for some time . '' Pleasant , was n't it ? I thought of Nellie 's meek admiration of all my words and ways , and got her photo out to soothe my vanity . For the first time it struck me that her features were somewhat insipid . The thought seemed like disloyalty , so I banished it and went to bed . I expected to dream of that disagreeable Gussie , but I did not , and I slept so soundly that it was ten o'clock the next morning before I woke . I sprang out of bed in dismay , dressed hastily , and ran down , not a little provoked at myself . Through the window I saw Gussie in the garden digging up some geraniums . She was enveloped in a clay-stained brown apron , a big flapping straw hat half hid her face , and she wore a pair of muddy old kid gloves . Her whole appearance was disreputable , and the face she turned to me as I said `` Good morning '' had a diagonal streak of clay across it .
I added slovenliness to my already long list XXXXX her demerits .
For about after from if in of till while with