book in his hand, his own career seemed petty and empty.
Such moods, however, are not uncommon in any life, and are not of
necessity fruitful. It need not be supposed that Jack took it too
seriously, on the one hand, or, on the other, that a vision of such a
woman's soul is ever without influence.

By the end of October they returned to town, Jack, and Edith with a
new and delicate attractiveness, and young Fletcher Delancy the most
wonderful and important personage probably who came to town that season.
It seemed to Edith that his advent would be universally remarked, and
Jack felt relieved when the boy was safely housed out of the public
gaze. Yes, to Edith's inexpressible joy it was a boy, and while Jack
gallantly said that a girl would have suited him just as well, he
was conscious of an increased pride when he announced the sex to
his friends. This undervaluation of women at the start is one of the
mysteries of life. And until women themselves change their point of
view, it is to be feared that legislation will not accomplish all that
many of them wish.

"So it is a boy. I congratulate you," was the exclamation of Major
Fairfax the first time Jack went down to the Union.

"I'm glad, Major, to have your approval."

"Oh, it's what is expected, that's all. For my part, I prefer girls. The
announcement of boys is more expensive."

Jack understood, and it turned out in all the clubs that he had hit upon
the most expensive sex in the view of responding to congratulations.

"It used to seem to me," said the Major, "that I must have a male heir
to my estates. But, somehow, as the years go on, I feel more like being
an heir myself. If I had married and had a boy, he would have crowded me
out by this time; whereas, if it had been a girl, I should no doubt
have been staying at her place in Lenox this summer instead of being
shipwrecked on that desert island. There is nothing, my dear boy, like a
girl well invested."

"You speak with the feelings of a father."

"I speak, sir, from observation. I look at society as it is, not as it
would be if we had primogeniture and a landed aristocracy. A daughter
under our arrangements is more likely to be a comfort to her parent in
his declining years than a son."

"But you seem, Major, to have preferred a single life?"

"Circumstances--thank you, just a drop more--we are the creatures of
circumstances. It is a long story. There were misrepresentation and
misunderstanding. It i