I did not want to believe that in time they would impress me more forcibly than they did now.

I did not want people to imagine that I would come to be so impressed.

If I stayed there I might almost look upon her in the light of a duty.
The family farewell the next morning was a tumultuous one.

Invitations to ride up again during my vacation, to come and spend Saturdays and Sundays, were intermingled with earnest injunctions from Genevieve in regard to a correspondence which she wished to open with me for the benefit of her mind, and declarations from Percy that he would let me know all about the bear as soon as it was decided what would be the best thing to happen to him, and entreaties from little Clara that I would not go away without kissing her good-bye.
But amid the confusion Miss Edith found a chance to say a final word to me.

"Don't you try," she said, as I was about to mount my bicycle, "to keep those holly sprigs in your brain until Christmas.