our past. I told you all about Mrs. Kaye before
I left England, and, so far, America has left me--well, unfascinated.
By-the-way, Colton informs me that he and his wife have picked out some
one to cheer my loneliness and--"

"Who?"

"I do not remember her name. Doubtless she will be at the party. I am
curious to see all your friends together. I have seen an astonishing
number of pretty girls in the street, and I am wondering how they will
stand the test of lighting up; the great test to my mind. I don't know
which I like least, the manufactured animation of the European woman of
the world, or the too natural animation which makes the American girl's
features dance all over her face. You, if you don't mind my saying so,
are one of the very few Americans I have met that has something of the
Englishwoman's faculty of looking, at the same time, statuesque and
glowingly alive."

"You excite my suspicion: I see no indication that you are out of
practice. It is quite true that American women's faces, like their
voices, lack cultivation. Well, you will see a good many pretty girls on
Saturday night, and with no particular advantage of dress. Money has
nothing to do with social position in these country towns. Perhaps
twenty families besides the bankers and Mr. Boutts, and the Leslies, are
well off. But many girls who are in the best society earn their living:
typewriters, clerks, book-keepers, and the like. One has carried on her
father's drug-store since his death. Most of the young men that could
get away have gone, and there are not half a dozen left with any money
behind them. The majority of beaux are either clerks, or in some small
business, although there are always the doctors and clergymen--very few
young lawyers. Snobbery barely exists. There are lines, but purely
theological. All social groups centre about the churches. The first here
has always been the Episcopalian."

"It had occurred to me that society of any sort had ceased. Of the
famous California hospitality I have seen nothing. A number of men have
driven out and called upon me, and I have returned their calls, and
found their houses very well appointed--although some member of the
family usually answered the bell; and one morning I saw Miss Wheaton
sweeping off the porch, her head tied up in a towel. All I meet appear
to be very cordial and friendly, but I have not been asked to take so
much as a cup of tea in a house in the county, and I have now been h