reciate them. I cannot
go on in the old way any longer. I paint more or less and read a great
deal--still on the lines you laid down. But one cannot paint and read
and walk and motor and dance all the time. Even if I had not gone to
France I should have become as bored and disgusted as I am now. You
know that I have a mind. What has it to feed on? I don't mean, of
course, that all the women I know are fools. Some of them no doubt are
cleverer than I am. But all the girls of my set--except Marian
Lawrence, and we don't get on very well--are married; and some have
babies, some have lovers, some are mad about bridge, a few have gone in
for politics, which don't interest me, and those that the war made
permanently serious devote themselves to charities and reform
movements. The war spoilt me for mere charity work--although I give a
charity I founded one afternoon a week--and mother does enough for one
family anyhow. I see no prospect of marrying--I don't know a young man
who wants to talk anything but sport and prohibition--you are an oasis.
There you are! The Sophisticates are an inspiration. I am sure they
will save my life."

"But have you reflected----" Clavering was embarrassed. She had
controlled her tones and spoken with her usual crisp deliberateness,
but he knew that the words came from some profound emotional reaction.
For Anne Goodrich it was an outburst. "You see--it is quite possible
that when the novelty wore thin you would not be much better off than
you are now. All these people are intensely interested in their
particular jobs. They are specialists. You----"

"You mean, what have I to give them?"

"Not exactly. You could give them a good deal. To say nothing of your
own high intelligence, they are by no means averse from taking an
occasional flyer into the realm of fashion. Curiosity partly, natural
human snobbishness, perhaps. They will go to your house if you invite
them, no doubt of that; and they may conceive an enthusiastic liking
for you. But after all, you would not be one of them. Even though
they genuinely appreciated your accomplishments, still you would be
little more than an interesting incident. They are workers, engaged in
doing the things they think most worth while--which are worth while
because they furnish what the intelligent public is demanding just now,
and upon which the current market places a high value. And you are
merely an intellectual young woman of