an leap with one bound into fame.
In America or England, mind you--because there the acting is
all poor to 'pretty good'."

"You are sure it could be done? No--I don't mean that.
I mean, is there really a chance--any chance--for me to
make my own living? A real living?"

"I guarantee," said Brent.

She changed from seriousness to a mocking kind of gayety--that
is, to a seriousness so profound that she would not show it.
And she said:

"You see I simply must banish my old women--and that hunchback
and his piano. They get on my nerves."

He smiled humorously at her. But behind the smile his
gaze--grave, sympathetic--pierced into her soul, seeking the
meaning he knew she would never put into words.

At the sound of voices in the hall she said:

"We'll talk of this again."

At lunch that day she, for the first time in many a week,
listened without irritation while Freddie poured forth his
unending praise of "my wife." As Brent knew them intimately,
Freddie felt free to expatiate upon all the details of
domestic economy that chanced to be his theme, with the
exquisite lunch as a text. He told Brent how Susan had made
a study of that branch of the art of living; how she had
explored the unrivaled Parisian markets and groceries and
shops that dealt in specialties; how she had developed their
breakfasts, dinners, and lunches to works of art. It is
impossible for anyone, however stupid, to stop long in Paris
without beginning to idealize the material side of life--for
the French, who build solidly, first idealize food, clothing,
and shelter, before going on to take up the higher side of
life--as a sane man builds his foundation before his first
story, and so on, putting the observation tower on last of
all, instead of making an ass of himself trying to hang his
tower to the stars. Our idealization goes forward haltingly
and hypocritically because we try to build from the stars
down, instead of from the ground up. The place to seek the
ideal is in the homely, the commonplace, and the necessary.
An ideal that does not spring deep-rooted from the soil of
practical life may be a topic for a sermon or a novel or for
idle conversation among silly and pretentious people. But
what use has it in a world that must _live_, and must be taught
to live?

Freddie was unaware that he was describing a further
development of Susan--a course she was taking in the
university of experience--she who had passed through its