University of Virginia Library

---

54

16. XVI.

I am horror-stricken at what I have done!
When I began this correspondence I had no other
purpose than to relieve the tedium of your sick-chamber.
Dillon told me to cheer you up. I
tried to. I thought you entered into the spirit of
the thing. I had no idea, until within a few days,
that you were taking matters au sérieux.

What can I say? I am in sackcloth and ashes.
I am a pariah, a dog of an outcast. I tried to
make a little romance to interest you, something
soothing and idyllic, and, by Jove! I have done it
only too well! My father does n't know a word
of this, so don't jar the old gentleman any more
than you can help. I fly from the wrath to come
— when you arrive! For O, dear Jack, there
is n't any colonial mansion on the other side of
the road, there is n't any piazza, there is n't any
hammock, — there is n't any Marjorie Daw!!