you forget it. Oh! Why
in heaven's name did we have Johnny Martin here? He's dull as
ditchwater----"

"I know, but---- It is nice to go out to his place on the Point. Oh,
Gene, I do wish you'd try and remember not to talk about your business
so much. You and Mr. Martin were talking about the price of lumber for
at least half an hour----"

"Nothing of the kind. We scarcely mentioned it. Oh! What car are you
going to use this afternoon? If we get out to the Barnetts', I thought
we might use the limousine---- Or no, you'll probably go out before I
do, I have to read over some specifications, and I promised to give Will
a lift, couldn't you take the Loco, maybe you might drive yourself, no,
I forgot, the clutch is slipping a little, well, you might drive out and
send the car back for me--still, there wouldn't hardly be time----"

Listening to them as to a play, Claire suddenly desired to scream, "Oh,
for heaven's sake quit fussing! I'm going up and drown myself in the
blue-room tap! What does it matter! Walk! Take a surface car! Don't fuss
so!"

Her wrath came from her feeling of guilt. Yes, Milt had been
commonplace. Had she done this to him? Had she turned his cheerful
ignorances into a careful stupor? And she felt stuffy and choking and
overpacked with food. She wanted to be out on the road, clear-headed,
forcing her way through, an independent human being--with Milt not too
far behind.

Mrs. Gilson was droning, "I do think Mattie Vincent is so nice."

"Rather dull I'd call her," yawned Mr. Gilson.

Mattie was the seventh of their recent guests whom he had called dull by
now.

"Not at all--oh, of course she doesn't dance on tables and quote
Maeterlinck, but she does have an instinct for the niceties and the
proprieties--her little house is so sweet--everything just exactly
right--it may be only a single rose, but always chosen so carefully to
melt into the background; and such adorable china--I simply die of envy
every time I see her Lowestoft plates. And such a quiet way of reproving
any bad taste--the time that crank university professor was out there,
and spoke of the radical labor movement, and Mattie just smiled at him
and said, 'If you don't mind, let's not drag filthy lumberjacks into the
drawing-room--they'd hate it just as much as we would, don't you think,
perhaps?'"

"Oh, _damn_ nice china! Oh, let's hang all spinsters who are brightly
reproving," Claire was silently raging. "And particularly and