I took her hand -- there were no kisses this time . `` Welcome home , Betty , '' I said . `` Oh , Stephen , it is so good to be back , '' she breathed , her eyes shining . She did not say it was good to see me again , as I had hoped she would do . Indeed , after the first minute of greeting , she seemed a trifle cool and distant . We walked for an hour in the pine wood and talked . 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 XXXXX years ... looked critically at myself in the mirror .
as at for hour in minute of over to until