Eleanor H. Porter

“ Surely, when one's lover failed one so utterly as to—
Like a flash in the dark there came the explanation why she, ever since February, had been mentally humming the meaningless little tunes so as not to think, think, think of Martin Kent, and why now she could think of him so calmly, so indifferently.
It was not now that her lover had failed her. (A thing that was already black could not become blacker.) She knew now that it was in February that he had really failed her ”

“ With all this, and more, in mind, Sister Sue began to economize in her household matters even more rigorously than ever. Gordon and May being gone, she told herself she could do it. There were now only her father and herself to feed, besides Delia, and they could have very simple food, the cheaper cuts of meat, and no rich pies or cake. She should not go out much, so she would need but little in the way of clothing. ”

“ Kent, do you suppose you could answer very lightly, something like this: 'Sister Sue the one? Oh, no, it's May. Oh, there was a fancied something once—perhaps—between the other two—but that's all over now. May is the one'; could you do that, Mrs. Preston?"
"Could I? " The little old lady threw a keen glance into Sister Sue's face. "You just wait and see. An' I'm thinkin' I'd be addin' that whatever it was between Martin Kent an' Sister Sue, it did n't never come to much, I guessed, or else Sister Sue would n't be so happy an' gay over fixin' up her sister to marry him." ”