y to this evidence of parental interest. She
preferred to see life drift on in some nebulous way at present, and
this was bringing matters too close to home. "Still, he has so much
machinery on his mind I doubt whether he could take any serious
interest in a woman. He is almost more of a battle-ship than he is a
man."

She made a mouth, and Mrs. Carter commented gaily: "You rogue! All the
men take an interest in you. You don't think you could care for him,
then, at all?"

"Why, mother, what a question! Why do you ask? Is it so essential that
I should?"

"Oh, not that exactly," replied Mrs. Carter, sweetly, bracing herself
for a word which she felt incumbent upon her; "but think of his
position. He comes of such a good family, and he must be heir to a
considerable fortune in his own right. Oh, Bevy, I don't want to hurry
or spoil your life in any way, but do keep in mind the future. With
your tastes and instincts money is so essential, and unless you marry
it I don't know where you are to get it. Your father was so
thoughtless, and Rolfe's was even worse."

She sighed.

Berenice, for almost the first time in her life, took solemn heed of
this thought. She pondered whether she could endure Braxmar as a life
partner, follow him around the world, perhaps retransferring her abode
to the South; but she could not make up her mind. This suggestion on
the part of her mother rather poisoned the cup for her. To tell the
truth, in this hour of doubt her thoughts turned vaguely to Cowperwood
as one who represented in his avid way more of the things she truly
desired. She remembered his wealth, his plaint that his new house
could be only a museum, the manner in which he approached her with
looks and voiceless suggestions. But he was old and married--out of
the question, therefore--and Braxmar was young and charming. To think
her mother should have been so tactless as to suggest the necessity for
consideration in his case! It almost spoiled him for her. And was
their financial state, then, as uncertain as her mother indicated?

In this crisis some of her previous social experiences became
significant. For instance, only a few weeks previous to her meeting
with Braxmar she had been visiting at the country estate of the
Corscaden Batjers, at Redding Hills, Long Island, and had been sitting
with her hostess in the morning room of Hillcrest, which commanded a
lovely though distant view of Long Island Sound.

Mrs.