with a purpose. It was to tell you that I have
thought more or less about what you said in the boat that morning, and
that I can understand, if I cannot agree with you. No doubt the times
have bred a certain class of women too good for mere matrimony. I have
seen many that were miserably thrown away; although I will confess that
the only remedy that occurred to me was a better man. But if you and
your like--are there really any others?--if you, let us say, are groping
towards some new solution of life, some happiness recipe that will
benefit the few that deserve it, far be it from a mere man
to--well--pinch you. You--you individually--have so many highly
developed faculties that I can conceive your finding sufficient
occupation through them, a filling up of time;--and no doubt idleness
and the vain groping after sex happiness are the principal reasons for
the failure of so many women. But work does not give happiness; it
merely diminishes the capacity and opportunities for unhappiness. I take
it that you, with all your gifts and the immense amount of thought you
have bestowed on the subject, are striving for something higher than
that. Besides, I had your lucid exposition of your mission. I now have
an additional reason for remaining in California--to watch the new
century plant flower. Like other commonplace mortals, however, my
instincts fight for the only solution of happiness I know anything
about. I still think that as the wife of some ambitious public man you
would find a far better market for your gifts than to stand as a sort of
statue of Independence on the top of Russian Hill with only San
Francisco to admire. And if you passionately loved the man--"

"Now you are spoiling everything. But it is handsome of you to admit
that I am not a fool; and that you have thought my theories worth
turning over in your busy mind is a compliment I duly appreciate."

"Even a sneer cannot spoil your loveliness to-night, so I don't mind the
sarcasm in the least. But it is true that in my few unoccupied
intervals--as, for instance, when Imura Kisaburo Hinamoto is shaving me,
and I have, by an excess of politeness, made sure that he will not cut
my throat--I have had visions of you on that ungainly pedestal with all
San Francisco kneeling at the base. It is quite conceivable. I am a born
leader myself. I recognize certain attributes in you. The town is on the
qui vive to know you. Mrs. Hofer is determined that you shall be the
s