"Wish I had
hold of the man that made 'em," young Eastman said, viciously; and in
the same breath: "What can the girl be thinking of, that she flings
herself away like that? Hang it all, is a woman a devil or a fool?"

Anderson removed his cigar long enough to ask a question, then
replaced it. "Who is the man?" he inquired, in a slow, odd voice.

"Oh, he is an old army officer, a major--Major Arms, I believe his
name is. He's somebody they've known a long time. He lives in
Kentucky, I believe, in the same place where the Carrolls used to
live and where she went to school. Oh, it's a good match. They're
just tickled to death over it. Her sister feels rather bad, I guess,
but, Lord! she'd do the same thing herself, if she got the chance.
They're all alike." The boy said the last with a cynical bitterness
beyond his years. He sneered effectively. He crossed one leg over the
other and puffed his relighted cigar. The last match had ignited.
Anderson said nothing. He was accommodating his ideas to the change
of situation. Presently young Eastman spoke again. "Well," he said,
in a tone of wretched conceit, "girls are as thick as flowers, after
all, and a lot alike. Bessy Van Dorn is a beauty, isn't she?"

"I don't think she's much like the other," said Anderson, shortly.

"She's full as pretty."

Anderson made no reply.

"I don't believe Bessy would go and marry a man old enough to be her
grandfather," said the boy, with a burst of piteous challenge. Then
suddenly he tossed his cigar into the street and flung up his hands
to his head with a despairing gesture. "Oh, my God!" he groaned.

"Be a man," Anderson said, in a kind voice.

"I am a man, ain't I? What do you suppose I care about it? I don't
want to marry and settle down yet, anyway. I like to fool with the
girls, but as for anything else-- I am a--man. If you think I am
broken up over this, if anybody thinks I am-- Lord--" The young
fellow rose and squared his shoulders. He looked down at Anderson.
"There's one thing I want to say," he added. "I don't want you to
think--I don't want to give the impression that she--that she has
been flirting, or anything like that. She hasn't. Of course she might
have been a little franker, I will admit that, for I have been there
a good deal, but I don't suppose she thought it was anything serious,
and it wasn't. She was right. But she did not flirt. Those girls are
not that sort. Great Scott! I should like to see a man ventur