ame very fond of him, and only doubted in
her own thoughts, lest she hurt his work with the others, the good of
which she was quick to see.... "He does not break training," she said
at last. "He cut out a high place and holds it easily. Suppose he is
_The Modern_?" she asked finally. "If he is, we who thought ourselves
modern, should laugh and clap our hands!" This was open heresy to the
Kate Wilkes of the world. "I thought I was past that," she sighed.
"Here I am getting ready to be stung again."

Certain of her barbed sentences caught in Bedient's mind: "Women whom
men avoid for being 'strong-minded' are apt to be strongest in their
affections. You can prove this by the sons of clinging vines."...
"Beware of the man who discusses often, and broods much, upon his
spiritual growth, when he fails to make his wife happy."... "A man's
courage may be just his cowardice running forward under the fear of
scorn from his fellows."... "The most passionate mother is likely to be
the least satisfied with just passion from her husband. Wedded to a man
capable of real love, this woman, of all earth's creatures, is the most
natural monogamist."... "A real woman had three caskets to give to a
man she loved. One day she read in his eyes that he could take but the
nearest and lowest; and that moment arose in her heart the wailing cry:
'The King is dead!'"... "The half-grown man never understands that
woman is happiest, and at her best in all her services to him, when he
depends upon her for a few of the finer things."...

Also Kate Wilkes had a way of doing a memorable bit of criticism in a
sentence or two: Regarding MacDowell, the American composer, "He left
the harvest to the others, but what exquisite gleanings he found!"...
As to Nietschze; "He didn't see all; his isn't the last word; but he
crossed the Forbidden Continent, and has spoken deliriously, half-mad
from the journey."... And her beloved Whitman, "America's wisest
patriot."...

* * * * *

Bedient liked the Grey One. He liked her that afternoon, when she asked
if he cared to come up to Vina Nettleton's with her. There was real
warmth in her manner from the first.... Always that illusion of having
played with her long ago, stole into mind with her name or presence.
(Once he had found her sobbing, about something she wouldn't tell. She
had always been ready to give up things. The smile she had for _him_,
would remain upon her lips, while she