in his
nature, inasmuch as she had not fallen under his spell; but there were
moments when she felt a whimsical desire to be reminded of the way
people felt and acted at home. Mr. Wendover did not disappoint her, and
the bright chocolate-coloured vista of the Fifth Avenue seemed to surge
before her as he said, 'May I have the pleasure of making my direction
the same as yours?' and moved round, systematically, to take his place
between her and the curbstone. She had never walked much with young men
in America (she had been brought up in the new school, the school of
attendant maids and the avoidance of certain streets) and she had very
often done so in England, in the country; yet, as at the top of
Grosvenor Place she crossed over to the park, proposing they should take
that way, the breath of her native land was in her nostrils. It was
certainly only an American who could have the tension of Mr. Wendover;
his solemnity almost made her laugh, just as her eyes grew dull when
people 'slanged' each other hilariously in her sister's house; but at
the same time he gave her a feeling of high respectability. It would be
respectable still if she were to go on with him indefinitely--if she
never were to come home at all. He asked her after a while, as they
went, whether he had violated the custom of the English in offering her
his company; whether in that country a gentleman might walk with a young
lady--the first time he saw her--not because their roads lay together
but for the sake of the walk.

'Why should it matter to me whether it is the custom of the English? I
am not English,' said Laura Wing. Then her companion explained that he
only wanted a general guidance--that with her (she was so kind) he had
not the sense of having taken a liberty. The point was simply--and
rather comprehensively and strenuously he began to set forth the point.
Laura interrupted him; she said she didn't care about it and he almost
irritated her by telling her she was kind. She was, but she was not
pleased at its being recognised so soon; and he was still too
importunate when he asked her whether she continued to go by American
usage, didn't find that if one lived there one had to conform in a great
many ways to the English. She was weary of the perpetual comparison, for
she not only heard it from others--she heard it a great deal from
herself. She held that there were certain differences you felt, if you
belonged to one or the other nation, and tha