If she would ask me--But nobody asked.

Nobody looked away from me.
Everybody congratulated me, and my father and mother and my remotest relations.

But the sting of shame smarted just the same; I could not be consoled.

I had made a fool of myself: Mr.Swan had publicly put me down.
Ah, so that was it! Vanity was the vital spot again.

It was wounded vanity that writhed and squirmed.