Jelnik and Doctor Geddes, who were, so to say,
unsuspicious Israelites coaxed into the Canaanitish camp.
I admit that I considered Doctor Richard Geddes undiplomatic in his
behavior. It never once occurred to that lordly gentleman, who had
had his own way ever since he was born, that he should stop now to
consider the feelings or the prejudices of Hyndsville. It wasn't
that he meant to champion _us_. It never occurred to him that we
needed championing. He simply liked us because he liked us. We
pleased him. That sufficed, so far as he was concerned.
I had begun really to like the doctor, myself. But I wished to
heaven he weren't, at that critical time, so tactless. For instance,
I have been peremptorily taken by an elbow and led willy-nilly to
his waiting car, on Lafayette Street, which is our principal
thoroughfare, under the calm, appraising, watching eyes of all
feminine Hyndsville. Not one of whom would fail to remark, casually:
"Oh, _did_ you see that Miss Smith with Doctor Geddes this morning?
Men are so unsuspicious, aren't they!"
I couldn't explain the situation to him, of course, any more than I
could explain to Mr.
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