n o'clock--What a lovely evening this
is, Mrs. Carrington!" preparing to patronize her hostess.

The Captain snorted with sudden anger, and, abruptly excusing himself,
disappeared in the library. Miss Carrington stayed a moment, then, with
a word to Croyden, that she would show him the article now, before the
others came, if Miss Erskine would excuse them a moment, bore him off.

"What do you think of her?" she demanded.

"Pompous and stupid--an irritating nuisance, I should call her."

"She's more!--she is the most arrogant, self-opinionated,
self-complacent, vapid piece of humanity in this town or any other
town. She irritates me to the point of impoliteness. She never sees
that people don't want her. She's as dense as asphalt."

"It is very amusing!" Croyden interjected.

"At first, yes--pretty soon you will be throwing things at her--or
wanting to."

"She's art crazy," he said. "Dilettanteism gone mad."

"It isn't only Art. She thinks she's qualified to speak on every
subject under the sun, Literature--Bridge--Teaching--Music. Oh, she is
intolerable!"

"What fits her for assuming universal knowledge?" asked Croyden.

"Heaven only knows! She went away to some preparatory school, and
finished off with another that teaches pedagogy. Straightway she became
an adept in the art of instruction, though, when she tried it, she had
the whole academy by the ears in two weeks, and the faculty asked her
to resign. Next, she got some one to take her to Europe--spent six
weeks in looking at a lot of the famous paintings, with the aid of a
guide book and a catalogue, and came home prepared to lecture on
Art--and, what's more, she has the effrontery to do it--for the benefit
of Charity, she takes four-fifths of the proceeds, and Charity gets the
balance.

"Music came next. She read the lives of Chopin and Wagner and some of
the other composers, went to a half dozen symphony concerts, looked up
theory, voice culture, and the like, in the encyclopaedias, and now
she's a critic! Literature she imbibed from the bottle, I suppose--it
came easy to _her_! And she passes judgment upon it with the utmost
ease and final authority. And as for Bridge! She doesn't hesitate to
arraign Elwell, and we, of the village, are the very dirt beneath her
feet. I hear she's thinking of taking up Civic Improvement. I hope it
is true--she'll likely run up against somebody who won't hesitate to
tell her what an idiot she is."

"Why do you toler