hrugged her shoulders. "Oh, I imagine it is," she said, "only
they're not honest enough to admit it."

He continued to stare at her and, strangely enough, she had never seemed
to him more beautiful.

"And do you mean to tell me," he said, "that people who have the
standards that you describe will attach the slightest importance to an
innocent little adventure like this of ours?"

"Of course. They are the very people who will."

"Nonsense."

"Yes, because they make a point of always believing the worst, or at
least of pretending to."

"Why pretend?"

"Because it makes conversation so much more amusing. Sometimes," she
added thoughtfully, "I have a terrible suspicion that there really isn't
an atom of harm in any of them--that they all behave perfectly well, and
just excite themselves by talking as if they didn't."

"And you call that suspicion terrible?"

"Well, it makes it all seem a little flat. But then sometimes," she went
on brightly, "one does find out something absolutely hideous."

"See here," he said, "it's a crime for a girl of your age to talk like
this. It's a silly habit. I don't believe you're like that at heart."

"You talk," said she, "like Edward Hickson."

"In some communities that would be thought a fighting word," he returned.
"But you haven't yet answered my question. You've told me what your
friends have done; but what would you do yourself, if you fell in love
with a poor man?"

"In the first place, I never should. What makes a man attractive to me is
power, preeminence, being bowed down to. If I lived in a military
country, I'd love the greatest soldier; and if I lived in a savage
country, I'd love the strongest warrior; but here to-day, the only form
of power I see is money. It's what makes you able to have everything you
want, and that's a man's greatest charm."

"And it seems to me that the most tied-down creatures I ever saw are the
rich men I've met in the East."

She was honestly surprised. "Why, what is there they can't do?"
she asked.

He smiled. "They can't do anything that might endanger their property
rights," he answered, "and that seems to me to cut them off from most
forms of human endeavor. But no matter about that. You say you would not
be likely to fall in love with a poor man, but suppose you _did_. Perhaps
it has happened already?"

Miss Fenimer looked thoughtful. "I was trying to think," she said. "Yes,
there was a young artist two years ago that I was rat