Georgie 's speech brought me back to harsh realities with a jolt . It hurt me , as such speeches always did . `` Did n't you ever have a beau , Miss Holmes ? '' said Wilhelmina laughingly . Just as it happened , a silence had fallen over the room for a moment , and everybody in it heard Wilhelmina 's question . I really do not know what got into me and possessed me . I have never been able to account for what I said and did , because I am naturally a truthful person and hate all deceit . It seemed to me that I simply could not say `` No '' to Wilhelmina before that whole roomful of women . It was TOO humiliating . I suppose all the prickles and stings and slurs I had endured for fifteen years on account of never having had a lover had what the new doctor calls `` a cumulative effect '' and came to a head then and there . `` Yes , I had one once , my dear , '' I said calmly . For once in my life I made a sensation . Every woman in that room stopped sewing and stared at me . Most of them , I saw , did n't believe me , but Wilhelmina did . Her pretty face lighted up with interest . `` Oh , wo n't you tell us about him , Miss Holmes ? '' she coaxed , `` and why did n't you marry him ? '' `` That is right , Miss Mercer , '' said Josephine Cameron , with a nasty little laugh . `` Make her tell . We 're all interested .
It 's news to us XXXXX Charlotte ever had a beau . ''
For as at in into of over that to with