hey've taken
her up, and they ask her everywhere; but they couldn't tell you why they
do it, any more than birds could tell you why they migrate. As a matter
of fact, they don't care. They just do it, and let it be."

"That sort of election and predestination may be very convenient for
Mrs. Wappinger, but I should think you might have reasons for not caring
to indorse it."

"I haven't. Why should I, more than anybody else."

"You've so much social perspicacity that I hoped you would see without
my having to tell you. It's chiefly a question of antecedents."

Dorothea looked thoughtful, her head tipped to one side, as she buttered
a bit of toast.

"I know that's an important point," she admitted, "but it isn't
everything. You've got to look at things all round, and not mistake your
shadow for your bone."

"I'm glad you see there is a shadow."

"I see there is only a shadow."

"A shadow on--what?"

Pruyn meant this for a leading question, and as such Dorothea took it.
She gazed at him for a minute with the clear eyes and straightforward
expression that were so essential a part of her dainty, self-reliant
personality. If she was bracing herself for an effort, there was no
external sign of it.

"I may as well tell you, father," she said, "that Carli Wappinger has
asked me to marry him."

For a long minute Derek sat with body seemingly stunned, but with mind
busily searching for the wisest way in which to take this astounding bit
of information. At the end of many seconds of silence he exploded in
loud laughter, choosing this method of treating Dorothea's confidence in
order to impress her with the ludicrous aspect of the affair, as it must
appear to the grown-up mind.

"Funny, isn't it?" she remarked, dryly, when he thought it advisable to
grow calmer.

"It's not only funny; it's the drollest thing I ever heard in my life."

"I thought it might strike you that way. That's why I told you."

"And what did you tell him, if I may ask?"

"I told him it was out of the question--for the present."

"For the present! That's good. But why the reservation?"

"I couldn't tell him it would be out of the question always, because I
didn't know. As long as he didn't ask me for a definite answer, I didn't
feel obliged to give him one."

"I think you might have committed yourself as far as that."

"I prefer not to commit myself at all. I'm very young and
inexperienced--"

"I'm glad you see that."

"Though neithe