Candy lay on a bed and wrapped her arms around the pillow. "I'm so tired," she thought. "I have cried so many tears for these three days that I haven't cried for the whole year…"
The girl was sorry she didn't have a close person she could consult with. Oh, if only she had a mother… Candy seemed to have been doing everything correctly – making friends, wishing happiness to everyone and just doing the right things – but it all turned out wrong… Had she given a reason to Archie? Or Neil? Never, never had she thought of such things… And she shouldn't have offended Mr Albert – he only wanted to cheer her up, and she just vented her bad mood on him…
"Tomorrow I'm going to make up with Mr Albert," miss White decided. But she hadn't changed her mind about refusing to take Andrew's last name. She just couldn't follow the rules of this upper class, she was different! She wanted to be free and choose her own path in life…
"Mr Albert… I mean, just Albert," the girl repeated, trying to exclude the word "mister" from her lexicon. He might take offence again. But anyway, it was hard to call him just Albert! Why did he have to ask for it?
At night, she saw Neil in her dream. He called her "miss Suffragette" and laughed. Candy woke up with a headache and was nearly late for work.
When miss White rushed out of the house, she found trodden roses. The ones she had refused to take from Neil last night. She clearly saw a picture: this bastard, having been refused, is venting his anger on poor flowers.
"What an animal!" swore Candy, picking up broken stems that seemed to be begging for her mercy. "Some people are just hopeless."
The girl went back to her apartment and put the crippled roses in a vase. They seemed to have cheered up, and some of them, the least injured, looked proudly at her with their bud-faces. Candy winked at them and hasted to work.
At lunchtime, the girl sent a note to Albert saying she was going to visit him the next day in Andrew's office, where he worked now, as she would be free after a night shift. She wrote a letter in her common manner, as if nothing had happened between them.
With a light heart Candy walked down the stairs – the working day went great after a note to an old friend. "I must visit Archie and talk to Annie if there is a chance", the girl thought. Now her life would be back to normal again…
"Candy! Hi!" she heard a sanguine voice of a rejected enemy.
Candy lifted her chin and quickened the pace.
"Candy! Your dress is up!"
The girl looked at it, startled, to see if it was okay, and again in front of her she saw him… Neil Legan.
"You deceived me!"
"Ha-ha-ha! I thought you were deaf!" he burst into laughter.
Miss White turned around and walked on. The unwanted admirer kept up the pace.
"You know what, you're just a scoundrel," Candy said hurriedly. "Every time I see your behaviour, I wonder how a person can possibly be someone… like you."
"You mean the flowers?" the old enemy asked, also quickening the pace to keep up with the girl.
"Yes, the flowers. A man would never have done it!"
"Woah, a man!" Neil whistled. He didn't seem to have lost his temper – on the contrary, he was being in high spirits today. "Do you know much of men and their behaviour? Tell me, how would a man have acted in my place?"
Candy slowed down and started to explain:
"Well, first of all, he wouldn't have vented his anger on defenceless flowers… or things… or anything. He would've endured my refusal to go out with him and would've let me go."
Neil winked at her and shook his head.
"Nope, not true – that would mean he didn't like you much. A man who really loved you would've never done such a thing. If he dreamed only of you, loved you with all his heart, saw you as a mother of his children and the only woman of his life… Oh no, he wouldn't have left in silence like nothing had happened."
Candy didn't answer, trying to think of a worthy response.
"Anyway, he wouldn't have acted in such a disgraceful manner…" she replied.
"Do you want to know what a man who really loved you would've felt?" Neil took her hand and stopped her, looking into her eyes, as if hypnotizing her. "At first, he would've felt very unhappy after you'd closed the door in front of him… Then, he would've become angry with himself for showing his weakness, for his feelings, his humiliation… And, as you say it, would've vented his anger on flowers."
Miss White slipped her hand out of his grip and walked on along the pavement.
"If he felt unhappy, it was all his fault. If he'd acted properly, nothing would've happened."
"You just like the weak, Candy!" Neil suddenly exploded. Candy stopped and looked in dismay at his face twisted with fury. "Yes, the weak! You like comfortable men, you like twisting them round your little finger and order them! Such… quiet, obliging, unobtrusive, indecisive, irresponsible spongers!"
"Who are you talking about?!" Candy exclaimed angrily.
"You know who I mean! Yes, yes, the very man who can live with a girl at her expense, see her off to work every day! The one who thinks it's okay that she's treated like an immoral woman – sure thing, he's got nothing to do with it, he is all so good!"
The girl started to defend her guardian angel:
"He didn't live at my expense, he was ill, do you understand it, you bastard?! Then he found a job! And when he remembered everything, he left – not to compromise me!"
"If I had spent the night with you, just one night, I would've asked you to marry me, like a decent man, I would've insisted on it! And even if I'd lost my memory, I wouldn't have lost my dignity, sponging on a woman for a living! I would've rather died of hunger!"
"I've had enough of this, we've got nothing to talk about anymore!" miss White nearly ran down the road. "And stop haunting me, stop or I will beat you!"
Neil feigned fright, clearly goofing on her.
"Such fire! Such passion!"
Candy swung her arm and hit him in the shoulder with her fist. The passers-by started to turn around at them. Legan only got even more excited.
"Wow! Not so tender, but still a touch! Give me another one!"
The girl got downright piqued and knocked him down with a push.