"Exactly. But, then, she would not have said so, had she not been
deceived by an erroneous idea. Knowing this, it became my duty to
endeavour to remove the false impression."

"I must confess, Mrs. Appleton, that I cannot see it in the same
light. I don't believe that we are called upon to humour the whims
of every one. It does such people, as you speak of, good to be let
alone, and have their pout out. If you notice them, it makes them
ten times as bad."

"A broad assertion like that you have just made needs proof, Louisa.
I, for one, do not believe that it is true. If an individual, under
a false impression, be let alone to 'pout it out,' the mere pouting,
as you call it, does not bring a conviction that the cause of
unpleasant feeling is altogether imaginary. The ebullition will
subside in time, and the subject of it may seem to forget the cause;
but to do so, is next to impossible where the false impression is
not removed. Now let me tell you how _I_ did in reference to the
friend I have just mentioned."

"Well. How did you do?"

"After the acute pain of mind which was caused by her note had
subsided, I began to examine, as far as I could recollect them, all
my words and actions towards her on the previous evening. In one or
two things, I thought I could perceive that which to one of her
sensitive disposition might appear in a wrong light. I remembered,
too, that in her domestic relations there were some circumstances of
a painful character, and I knew that these weighed heavily upon her