impulsive thought was that
Mildred had taken few chances, and that as a matter of self-defense her
carefulness might have been well founded. This Mr. Arthur Russell was a
much more responsive person than one had supposed.

"So, Mr. Russell, you don't know anything about me except what you
thought when you first saw me?"

"Yes, I know I was right when I thought it."

"You haven't told me what you thought."

"I thought you were like what you ARE like."

"Not very definite, is it? I'm afraid you shed more light a minute or
so ago, when you said how different from Mildred you thought I was. That
WAS definite, unfortunately!"

"I didn't say it," Russell explained. "I thought it, and you read my
mind. That's the sort of girl I thought you were--one that could read a
man's mind. Why do you say 'unfortunately' you're not like Mildred?"

Alice's smooth gesture seemed to sketch Mildred. "Because she's
perfect--why, she's PERFECTLY perfect! She never makes a mistake, and
everybody looks up to her--oh, yes, we all fairly adore her! She's like
some big, noble, cold statue--'way above the rest of us--and she hardly
ever does anything mean or treacherous. Of all the girls I know I
believe she's played the fewest really petty tricks. She's----"

Russell interrupted; he looked perplexed. "You say she's perfectly
perfect, but that she does play SOME----"

Alice laughed, as if at his sweet innocence. "Men are so funny!" she
informed him. "Of course girls ALL do mean things sometimes. My own
career's just one long brazen smirch of 'em! What I mean is, Mildred's
perfectly perfect compared to the rest of us."

"I see," he said, and seemed to need a moment or two of thoughtfulness.
Then he inquired, "What sort of treacherous things do YOU do?"

"I? Oh, the very worst kind! Most people bore me particularly the men in
this town--and I show it."

"But I shouldn't call that treacherous, exactly."

"Well, THEY do," Alice laughed. "It's made me a terribly unpopular
character! I do a lot of things they hate. For instance, at a dance I'd
a lot rather find some clever old woman and talk to her than dance with
nine-tenths of these nonentities. I usually do it, too."

"But you danced as if you liked it. You danced better than any other
girl I----"

"This flattery of yours doesn't quite turn my head, Mr. Russell," Alice
interrupted. "Particularly since Mildred only gave you Ella Dowling to
compare with me!"

"Oh, no," he insisted. "T