the
country."

"In the country, one does not need to be particular. It is rather nice
to have a friend in the village who can bring the news. The long
summer days would be insupportable without the follies and misfortunes
of our neighbors to discuss. Then, if she is pretty and presentable,
she will be useful in lawn and tennis parties. I would not mind about
Miss Van Hoosen's father. Fathers are not much, anyway; and
fortunately she has no mother to annoy us. That makes a great
difference. A vulgar mother would be an insurmountable objection. Is
Miss Van Hoosen pretty?"

"Yanna is lovely. And she has a fine manner. Our art professor once
said to me, 'Your friend Miss Van Hoosen is a gentlewoman with a great
deal of background.' I do not know what he meant, but I am sure he
intended a great compliment."

"Oh! he meant intellect, emotions, and such things. I am not so sure
of Miss Van Hoosen now. There is Harry to be considered. He might fall
in love with her. That would be inexpedient--in fact, ruinous."

"Harry fall in love! How absurd! Have not the prettiest girls in our
set swung incense before him for five years? Harry glories in his
ability to resist temptation. He knows that Eve never could have 'got
round' him."

"She ruined Adam in about twenty-four hours. It would have taken Eve
about one minute to 'get round' Harry. The boy is really very
impressionable."

"Mamma! What a huge joke! Harry impressionable!"

"He is, I assure you, Rose. I presume I know my own son."

"Well, at any rate, he is not worse than the rest. Young men nowadays
neither love nor hate. Their love is iced on prudence, and their
hatreds have not a particle of courage. I wish I had been born one
hundred years ago. I have the heart for a real man."

"You flatter yourself, Rose. You are the very triumph of respectable
commonplace. And as for one hundred years ago, the follies of that
date were just as innumerable as our own."

"You think I am respectably commonplace, mamma. Then let me tell you,
I must be a consummate actress. I do not think you know Rose Filmer. I
do not think I know her myself. I hope I have some individuality."

"Individuality! There is nothing more vulgar. I hear Parry with the
carriage; will you drive with me?"

"No; I shall answer Adriana's letter, and get the subject off my mind.
It is so much easier to know what you dislike to do than to be sure of
what you like. Where are you going?"

"To McCreery's. I w