u  0  yes,  I  don't  mind  recalling  the  part  Lois  took  in
the  little  story  of  my  sojourn  here.  She  was  younger
in  those  days,  —  I  dare  say  much  more  charming  than
she  is  now.  Girls  bordering  on  old-maidhood  some
times  grow  a  trifle  sour.  Still,  I  don't  know  how  it  is
with  Lois.  I  wish  she  cared  something  for  me  now,
for  then  I  would  have  a  capital  nurse,  at  any  rate;  but
of  course  it  is  not  to  be  expected,  when  our  little  affair
came  to  such  an  ignominious  end,  —  no  tragic  parting,
no  sentimental  promises  of  eternal  friendship  or  re
membrance,  or  such  nonsense  in  it, — just  a  final,  com
plete  breaking  off.  She  has  mourned  me  as  dead,  and
planted  my  imaginary  grave  with  forget-me-nots  all
these  years,  I  suppose.  But  it  could  n't  be  helped.  It
was  better  to  let  her  think  that  than  to  tell  her  the


MEMORIES  OF  THE   SAN  JOAQUIN.  353

truth  and  have  her  lose  her  high  estimate  of  me.  A
boyish  prank  would  have  turned  me  into  a  scoundrel
in  her  eyes,  and  so  I  concluded  that  if  it  was  not  pru
dent  for  me  to  continue  our  acquaintance  she  had  better
think  well  of  me  than  ill.
