Ah, well, it was all as accurate as Pa's name or
Mother's beauty or her love of dancing--she thinks it's as wicked as
playing cards.
Before I had read half the papers, between dread of Father and John and
the absurdity of it all, I was in a gale of tears and laughter. More than
once Milly crept to the door, or I heard in the hall the uneven step of
lame little Ethel. But I wouldn't open. I was swept by a passion of----
Not grief, not anger, not concern, not fear of anything on earth; but--
Joy!
Joy in my beauty, about which a million men and women had that morning
read for the first time! Joy in the fame of my beauty which should last
forever! Joy in my full and rapturous life!
What did I care for the spelling of a name or the bald prose about my
college course? What concern was it of mine how my photographs had been
obtained? Trifles; trifles all! Here were the essential facts set broadly
forth, speeding to every part of the country--why, to every part of the
world! Cadge or Pros. Reid now--any one who knows how such things are
done--might note the hours as they passed, and say: "Now two millions have
seen her beauty, have read of her; now three; now five; now ten millions.
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