Since she had ceased to fear him, he
had ceased to be at all fear-inspiring. The rude lover whose lawless
attempts had formerly put her in such fear, was now respectful to the
point of reverence, and almost timid in his fear of offending her. The
least sign of anything like tenderness on her part sufficed to stir
him with a passion of humility which in turn touched her more deeply
sometimes than she would have liked to admit. Now that she had come to
see how the poor fellow loved her, she could not cherish the least
anger with him for what he had done to her.
Sometimes she led him on to speak of himself and his present position,
and he would tell her of his dream and hope, in this present period of
anarchy to make himself a name. She was somewhat impressed by his
talk, though she would not tell him so. She had heard enough political
discussion at her father's and uncle's tables to know that the future
political constitution and government of the colonies were wholly
unsettled, and that even a royal and aristocratic form, with
Washington, or some foreign princeling, at the head, was advocated by
many. Especially here in Massachusetts, just now, almost anything was
possible.
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