ul facts--a most
depressing condition for such a mind as mine. There are three orders of
intelligence, Jenny. The lowest never reaches higher than the discussion
of persons; the second talks about places, which is certainly better;
the third soars into the region of ideas; and when one finds a person
indulge in ideas, then court their friendship, for ideas are the only
sound basis of intellectual interchanges. It is so strange to see an
educated person, who might be discussing the deepest mysteries and
noblest problems of life, preferring to relate the errors of a domestic
servant, or deplore the price of sprats."

"All very well for you," declared Miss Ironsyde; "from your isolated
situation, above material cares and anxieties, you can affect this
superiority; but what about Mrs. Dinnett? You would very soon be
grumbling if Mrs. Dinnett put the deepest mysteries and noblest problems
of life before the price of sprats. It is true that man cannot live by
bread alone; and it is equally true that he cannot live without it. The
highest flights are impossible without cooking, and cooking would be
impossible if all aspired to the highest flights."

"As a matter of fact, Mrs. Dinnett is my present source of depression,"
he said. "All is going as it should go, I suppose. The young people are
reconciled, and I have arranged that Sabina should be married from here
a fortnight hence. Thus, as it were, I shield and protect her and
support her against back-biting and evil tongues."

"It is splendid of you."

"Far from it. I am only doing the obvious. I care much for the girl. But
Mary Dinnett, despite the need to be sanguine and expeditious, permits
herself an amount of obstinate melancholy which is most ill-judged and
quite unjustified by the situation. Nothing will satisfy her. She scorns
hope. She declines to take a cheerful view. She even confesses to a
premonition they are not going to be married after all. She says that
her grandmother had second sight and believes that the doubtful gift has
been handed down to her."

"This is very bad for Sabina."

"Of course it is. I impress that upon her mother. The girl has been
through a great deal. She is highly strung at all times, and these
affairs have wrought havoc with her intelligence for the moment. Her one
thought and feverish longing is to be married, and her mother's fatuous
prophecies that she never will be are causing serious nervous trouble to
Sabina. I feel sure of i