mian put her hand impulsively on Miss Fleet's arm.

"I didn't know till I came here. I thought I disliked him, I almost
thought I hated him."

"That's always a bad sign, I believe," said Miss Fleet.

"Yes, I know. But he doesn't hate me. He doesn't think about me. He's
mother's friend and not even my enemy. Do tell me, Miss Fleet--or may I
call you Susan to-day?"

"Of course, and to-morrow, too."

"Thank you. You've seen lots of people. Do you think I have personality?
Do you think I--am I just like everyone else? That's such a hideous
idea! Have I anything that stamps me? Am I a little different from all
the other girls--you know, in our sort of set? Do tell me!"

There was something humble in her quivering eagerness that quite touched
Susan Fleet.

"No, I don't think you're just like everyone else."

"You aren't. And he isn't. He's not in the least like any other man I
ever saw. That's the dreadful part of it. I can't imagine why I care for
him, and that's why I know I shall never care for anyone else."

"Perhaps he likes you."

"No, no! No, I'm sure he doesn't. He thinks, like everyone else, that I
have nothing particular in me. But it isn't true. Susan, sometimes we
know a thing by instinct--don't we?"

"Certainly. Instinct is often the experience of the past working within
us."

"Well, I know that I am the woman who could make Claude Heath famous,
who could do for him what he could never do for himself. He has genius,
I believe. Max Elliot says so. And I feel it when I'm with him. But he
has no capacity for using it, as it ought to be used, to dominate the
world. He's never been in the world. He knows, and wishes to know,
nothing of it. That's absurd, isn't it? We ought to give, if we have
anything extraordinary to give. Oh, if you knew how I've longed and
pined to be extraordinary!"

"Extraordinary? In what way?"

"In gifts, in talent! I've suffered dreadfully because I simply can't
endure just to be one of the silly, dull crowd. But lately--quite
lately--I've begun to realize what I could be, do. I could be the
perfect wife to a great man. Don't laugh at me!"

"I'm not laughing."

"Aren't you? You are a dear! I knew you would understand. You see I've
always been among people who matter. I've always known clever men who've
made their names. I've always breathed in the atmosphere of culture. I'm
at home in the world. I know how to take people. I have social
capacities. Now he's quite different.