Temperamentally, she would take advantage of
currents rather than steer at any time, and it would be the
strongest current that would finally bear her away. Her idea had
always been that she could play with fire without burning her own
fingers, and that the flames she kindled were so innocent and
mild that no one could be harmed by them. She had fancied, up to
now, that she could control, urge on, or cool down a man's
feeling forever and a day, if she chose, and remain mistress of
the situation. Now, after some weeks of weighing and balancing
her two swains, she found herself confronting a choice, once and
for all. Each of them seemed to be approaching the state of mind
where he was likely to say, somewhat violently: "Take me or leave
me, one or the other!" But she did not wish to take them, and
still less did she wish to leave them, with no other lover in
sight but Cephas Cole, who was almost, though not quite, worse
than none.
If matters, by lack of masculine patience and self-control, did
come to a crisis, what should she say definitely to either of her
suitors? Her father despised Mark Wilson a trifle more than any
young man on the river, and while he could have no objection to
Phil Perry's character or position in the world, his hatred of
old Dr.
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