There was no day yet in which Annie did not think of her old champion
with the same feeling of devotion which his championship had first
aroused, although all her necessities, hopes, and fears were now beyond
any assistance he could render. She was far on in a new path: he was
loitering behind, out of hearing, He would not have dared to call her
solicitude nonsense; but he would have set down all such matters as
belonging to women, rather than youths beginning the world. The lessons
of Thomas Crann were not despised, for he never thought about them. He
began to look down upon all his past, and, in it, upon his old
companions. Since knowing Kate, who had more delicate habits and ways
than he had ever seen, he had begun to refine his own modes concerning
outside things; and in his anxiety to be like her, while he became more
polished, he became less genial and wide-hearted.
But none of his old friends forgot him. I believe not a day passed in
which Thomas did not pray for him in secret, naming him by his name,
and lingering over it mournfully--"Alexander Forbes--the young man that
I thocht wad hae been pluckit frae the burnin' afore noo. But thy
time's the best, O Lord.
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