As I hoped and
expected, she made no reference to our conversation of the first
evening. Sangree bothered her with no special attentions, and after all
they were very little together. His behaviour was perfect in that
respect, and I, for my part, hardly gave the matter another thought.
Joan was ever a prey to vivid fancies of one kind or another, and this
was one of them. Mercifully for the happiness of all concerned, it had
melted away before the spirit of busy, active life and deep content
that reigned over the island. Every one was intensely alive, and peace
was upon all.
* * * * *
Meanwhile the effect of the camp-life began to tell. Always a searching
test of character, its results, sooner or later, are infallible, for it
acts upon the soul as swiftly and surely as the hypo bath upon the
negative of a photograph. A readjustment of the personal forces takes
place quickly; some parts of the personality go to sleep, others wake
up: but the first sweeping change that the primitive life brings about
is that the artificial portions of the character shed themselves one
after another like dead skins.
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