Before retiring he sat
and thought over the experiences of the past fortnight since his arrival
in Eastborough, but the most of his thoughts were given to the remark
made by Mrs. Putnam about his leaving Deacon Mason's. He had been
uniformly polite and to a slight degree attentive to Miss Mason. The
Deacon's horse was a slow one, and so on several occasions he had hired
a presentable rig and a good stepper over to Eastborough Centre, and had
taken Miss Mason out to ride. He reflected now, as he had never done
before, that of course the whole town knew this, and the thought came
home to him strongly that by so doing he might have inflicted a triple
injury upon Miss Mason, Mr. Pettingill, and himself. He was not in love
with Miss Mason, nor Miss Putnam; they were both pretty girls, and in
the city it was the custom to be attentive to pretty girls without
regard to consequences.
He had asked Miss Mason to go riding with him the next day, but he
inwardly resolved that it would be the last time he would take her, and
he was in doubt whether to go back to the city at once or go to some
other town and board at a hotel, or look around and find some other
place in Eastborough.
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