t do you mean by people of my class?"

Cally raised a white-gloved hand and put back a tendril of her gay hair.
She looked at him level-eyed. The man's constant and cocksure "I," "me,"
"mine," rubbed her strongly the wrong way. This was Dr. Vivian's
Settlement, and nobody else's. She was convinced that Vivian would have
made a far better Director anyway....

Mr. Pond, however, smiled suddenly. The smile largely transformed his
dark face, making it look for the first time quite agreeable, and
even kind.

"I mean," said he, "those who are highly ornamental, but cannot candidly
be described as generally useful."

The reply, for some reason, silenced her. She thought of Mrs. Page. The
man's smile faded.

"Not," said he, "that I don't consider ornaments of use. I do, in their
place. Now I must get back to the firing-line. I can only add that if
you are serious about wanting to help me, Miss--I'm afraid I didn't
catch your name--you will lose no time in qualifying yourself to be of
service. Obviously you are not so qualified at present."

He nodded curtly, and turned away. The admiring populace swallowed him
up....

Cally felt as if she had received a severe drubbing. She felt rebuffed,
defeated, depressed, and at the same time vaguely stimulated. However,
the moment for introspective analysis was not now....

"Well, Cally," said motherly Mrs. McVey, drifting by, "you must feel
sort of lonesome--such a turn-out of old folks I never saw. I wanted
Evey to come, but she said she 'd as soon go to a tea at the Needy
Ladies' Home."

On the heels of Evey's mother came Cally's own, whose watchful eye had
been felt from a distance before now. Possibly mamma had not forgotten
what happened the last time Cally came to the Dabney House....

"I saw you talking with Mr. Pond," said Mrs. Heth, a little aside. "How
did he impress you?"

"He's the most conceited human being I ever saw," said Cally. "I believe
he said one or two fairly interesting things."

"Well--that's not a bad recommendation. I like an important man to think
well of himself. I'll ask him for my Settlement dinner Saturday, when
those Cheritons stop nagging at him."

Mamma looked slightly flushed beneath her fixed smile; a look which her
daughter had no difficulty in understanding. More than once this
afternoon, Cally had encountered significant stares upon herself,
instantly removed, which showed with amusing candour that she was the
subject of conversation