He was every inch a man, strong, intelligent and brave
to temerity, with a reckless disregard of consequences, which might
have been dangerous had it not been tempered by a dash of prudence and
caution that gave him ballast.
I was not surprised when I heard of the encounter; for I knew enough
of him to be sure that Mary's high-handedness would meet its
counterpart in my cool friend Brandon. It was, however, an unfortunate
victory, and what all Mary's beauty and brightness would have failed
to do, her honest, open acknowledgment of wrong, following so quickly
upon the heels of her fault, accomplished easily. It drew him within
the circle of her fatal attractions, and when Jane told me of it, I
knew his fate was sealed, and that, sooner or later, his untouched
heart and cool head would fall victim to the shafts that so surely
winged all others.
It might, and probably would, be "later," since, as Brandon had said,
he was not one of those who wear the heart upon the sleeve. Then he
had that strong vein of prudence and caution, which, in view of Mary's
unattainableness, would probably come to his help.
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