out at the company. There were Mr. Hinckley, Mrs. Hinckley,
their daughter, whom I recognized as the splendid blonde whose pacers
had passed us when we were out driving, Mrs. Trescott and her daughter,
and Captain and Mrs. Tolliver. Those present were plainly of several
different sets and cliques. Mrs. Hinckley hoped that my wife would join
the Equal Rights Club, and labor for the enfranchisement of women. She
referred, too, to the eloquence and piety of her pastor, the
Presbyterian minister, while Mrs. Tolliver quoted Emerson, and invited
Alice to join, as soon as we removed, the Monday Club of the Unitarian
Church, devoted to the study of his works. Mr. Macdonald, red-whiskered,
weather-beaten, and gigantic, fidgeted about the punch-bowl a good deal;
and replying to some chance remark made by Alice, ventured the opinion
that the grass was gettin' mighty short on the ranges. Miss Addison, who
came with her cousins the Lattimores, looked with disapproval upon the
punch, and disclosed her devotion to the W. C. T. U. and the Ladies' Aid
Society of the Methodist Church. The Lattimores were Will Lattimore and
his wife. I learned that he was the son of the General, and Jim's
lawyer; and that they went rarely into society, being very exclusive.
This was communicated to me by Mrs. Ballard, who brought Miss Ballard
with her. She asked in tones of the intensest interest if we played
whist; while Miss Ballard suggested that about the only way we could
find to enjoy ourselves in such a little place would be to identify
ourselves with the dancing-party and card-club set. I began to suspect
that life in Lattimore would not be without its complexities.

Mr. Trescott came in for a moment only, for his wife and daughter. Miss
Trescott was not to be found at first, but was discovered in the
bay-window with Jim and Miss Hinckley, looking over some engravings. Mr.
Elkins took her down to her carriage, and I thought him a long time
gone, for the host. As soon as he returned, however, the conversation
again turned to the dominant thought of the gathering, municipal
expansion. And I noted that the points made were Jim's. He had already
imbued the town with his thoughts, and filled the mouths of its citizens
with his arguments.

After they left, we sat with Jim and talked.

"Well, how do you like 'em?" said he.

"Why," said Alice, "they're very cordial."

"Heterogeneous, eh?" he queried.

"Yes," said she, "but very cordial. I am surpris