Betty was brilliant , witty , self-possessed , altogether charming . I thought her perfect and yet my heart ached . What a glorious young thing she was , in that splendid youth of hers ! What a prize for some lucky man -- confound the obtrusive thought ! No doubt we should soon be overrun at Glenby with lovers . I should stumble over some forlorn youth at every step ! Well , what of it ? Betty would marry , of course . It would be my duty to see that she got a good husband , worthy of her as men go . I thought I preferred the old duty of superintending her studies . But there , it was all the same thing -- merely a post-graduate course in applied knowledge . When she began to learn life 's greatest lesson of love , I , the tried and true old family friend and mentor , must be on hand to see that the teacher was what I would have him be , even as I had formerly selected her instructor in French and botany . Then , and not until then , would Betty 's education be complete . I rode home very soberly . When I reached The Maples I did what I had not done for years ... looked critically at myself in the mirror . The realization that I had grown older came home to me with a new and unpleasant force . There were marked lines on my lean face , and silver glints in the dark hair over my temples . When Betty was ten she had thought me `` an old person . '' Now , at eighteen , she probably thought me a veritable ancient of days . Pshaw , what did it matter ?
And yet ... I thought of her as I had seen her , standing under the pines , and something cold and painful laid its hand XXXXX my heart .
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