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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08f7639 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50751 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50751) diff --git a/old/50751-0.txt b/old/50751-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 83d3043..0000000 --- a/old/50751-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6561 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Teacup Club, by Eliza Armstrong - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Teacup Club - -Author: Eliza Armstrong - -Release Date: December 23, 2015 [EBook #50751] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEACUP CLUB *** - - - - -Produced by Emmy, Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - - -_The_ Teacup Club - - BY - ELIZA ARMSTRONG - -[Illustration] - - _CHICAGO_ - WAY AND WILLIAMS - 1897 - - - - - COPYRIGHT - WAY AND WILLIAMS - 1897 - - - - -NOTE - - -A portion of the matter in this little book originally appeared in _The -New York Journal_, and is used by the courtesy of W. R. Hearst, Esq. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I THE TEACUP CLUB IS FORMED 9 - II THE CLUB DISCUSSES WOMAN IN POLITICS 39 - III MAN’S REAL ATTITUDE TOWARD THE PROGRESS OF WOMAN 65 - IV CONCERNING THE HEROINE OF TO-DAY 89 - V THE CLUB SETTLES SOME CURRENCY PROBLEMS 112 - VI THE PIONEER NEW WOMAN 136 - VII WOMAN IN LEGISLATION 159 - VIII AN EXECUTIVE MEETING 185 - IX ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF POLITICAL POWER 210 - X WOMAN AS A PARLIAMENTARIAN 236 - XI THE CLUB INVESTIGATES THEOSOPHY 261 - XII A DISCUSSION AND A SURPRISE 285 - - - - -Chapter I - -The Teacup Club is Formed - - -“You can never be sure of pleasing a man,” sighed the blue-eyed girl, -who was calling on her dearest friend; “that is, if you try to please -him,” she added reflectively. - -“I suppose not,” replied the girl with the dimple in her chin, “unless -you succeed in concealing from him the fact that you are trying to -please him.” - -“H’m; yes, I suppose there is something in that. However, we ought not -to be hard on the poor things. The whole truth with the sterner sex is -that they are never really practical. They—” - -“How clever you are!” cried the girl with the dimple in her chin, -admiringly. “Sometimes it does seem a pity that you are to marry Jack, -instead of studying law, or—theosophy or something like that. Really, -a very little study would fit you for the bar, but of course Jack—” - -“I don’t intend to marry Jack,” said the blue-eyed girl, calmly. - -“O, my goodness, does he know that?” - -“I don’t know whether he knows that or not; but he does know that I’ve -broken my engagement with him. I sent back his ring, and—” - -“Dear, dear; that ring must have already cost its real value in -messenger fees alone. Let me see, how many times have you sent—” - -“And you may know that I am in earnest when I tell you that I am to -pour tea for Nell to-morrow, and everybody will comment on its absence.” - -“Do you want me to come over and stay with you to-night, dear?” queried -the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“No, thank you, dear. I can just as well talk it over with you now. Of -course it was Jack’s fault.” - -The girl with the dimple in her chin was silent. - -“Well, Emily Marshmallow, I did think that you, of all people, would -sympathize with me, and—” - -“Look here, Dorothy; of course I sympathize with you, but you remember -when you quarreled with Jack the last time I—” - -“I remember the last time that Jack quarreled with me,” replied the -blue-eyed girl, with dignity. - -“Well, I sympathized violently with you, and the consequence was that -you wouldn’t speak to me for a month after you made up with him!” - -“O, of course, if you really do sympathize with me, I—” - -“You might know that. But tell me all about it. Is it that you want a -new ring which is too expensive for anything save a peace offering? Or -is Edwin coming home on a visit? Or has—” - -“Nothing so frivolous, my dear; this is a serious matter. Jack—that is, -Mr. Bittersweet, joined a new club without even letting me know that -he meant to do it. I shouldn’t have minded if he had only told of it -beforehand—” - -“Of course not, dear; for then you could have made him give it up!” - -“Exactly. Well, when I did find it out, I told him that I plainly saw -he did not really love me, and that it was lucky I had discovered the -fact before it was too late!” - -“How very original you are!” murmured the girl with the dimple in her -chin. “Go on, dear.” - -“Yes, it is all over and I never was so hap—happy in my life! Where is -my hand—handkerchief? I—I got s—something in my eye on the way here, -and—” - -“Here it is, dear, and let me draw down the window shade, so the light -will not hurt your poor eye.” - -“You needn’t, dear. I saw them coming up the street a minute or two ago -and all I’ve got to say is, that if Jack Bittersweet thinks he can make -me jealous by parading up and down with a made-up thing like Frances, -he is very much mistaken!” - -“I suppose you have coaxed Edwin’s sister to write and tell him that -you have broken with Jack?” queried the girl with the dimple in her -chin. - -“No, I haven’t. I did that last time and he was so unpleasant after we -made up!” - -“Who was unpleasant? Jack?” - -“Of course not, goosie. A man is always nicer than usual just after -making up. No, it was Edwin; he—men are so awfully selfish, you know! -Just because I was nice to him while I was angry with Jack, he imagined -I had treated him badly—did you ever hear of such a thing? How did -he ever expect me to bring Jack to his senses in time for the opera -season, without a little jealousy as an incentive?” - -“Well, you know, men are so awfully vain that he probably thought—” - -“That I really liked him? Perhaps he did. I never thought of that. -Still, badly as he has behaved, I can’t help a kindly feeling for him. -You see, I had such a lovely new gown for the opera and everybody knew -that I expected to go often, so—” - -“You might even have had to give in and acknowledge that you were -wrong, but for Edwin!” - -“No, dear,” replied the blue-eyed girl, with great dignity. “Never -that. I really expected to marry Jack, you know, and it would never -have done to establish such a precedent. How could I ever expect a -happy married life, if I began it by acknowledging that I could ever be -in the wrong?” - -“Very true, dear. By the way, do you think a peep at my lovely new -waist would do you any good?” - -“You seem to have misunderstood me entirely,” retorted the blue-eyed -girl, severely, “I am feeling quite happy. Indeed, I don’t know that I -ever felt happier in my life, unless it was the day upon which I was -mistaken for my younger sister!” - -“But what are you going to do in regard to Jack?” - -“Why, Emily Marshmallow, how stupid you are to-day! You seem to -imagine that I want to be flattered, like a man, by being asked to -explain things. I told you, didn’t I? that Jack and I quarreled about -his membership in a new club. Very well, I too, have decided to join a -club!” - -“Humph, that isn’t a bad idea. But what kind of a club? An Ibsen or a -Browning one, I suppose. I notice that men dislike particularly to have -us members of really intellectual clubs.” - -“Well, I did think of either an Ibsen or a Symphony club, but neither -of them just seemed to suit me, so—well, the fact is that I’ve decided -to found a club of my own.” - -“But even then you can’t always have it to suit you, because the other -members—” - -“Oh, yes, I shall dear. You see, I’ll make all the—the by-laws and -resolutions just as I want them, before I invite any one to join the -club. I think I shall ask Evelyn to be the president, because she is -married and accustomed already to making somebody do as she wishes.” - -“Dear, dear, I’m only afraid that you are too clever to—” - -“Succeed? Not quite so bad as that, I hope. Now, you see, the chief -objection to Jack’s new club was that he wouldn’t tell me anything -about it. Said he didn’t know just what its purpose was. As if a man -would join a club without knowing—” - -“I begin to see now. You mean to keep the purpose of your own club a -secret, too?” - -“That’s just it, and when Jack hears how nice it is, he’ll find out -that we are a great deal cleverer than he thinks. I shall make the -membership for life too, so—” - -“But you haven’t even told me the purpose of the club yet.” - -“The Advancement of Woman, dear. Jack hates advanced women and when I -make up with him—” - -“But you said a moment ago that you would never—” - -“Good gracious, Emily,” cried the blue-eyed girl, hastily, “do stop -talking a moment and let me get in a word edgewise: I’ve been trying -for half an hour to get a chance to ask you where the new waist you -offered to show me, is, and I can’t—” - -“Here it is in my wardrobe and isn’t it a dream? You may try it on, if -you like.” - -“Thank you, dear; but no. I care so little for such frivolities, now -that I have come to enjoy the real intellectual life. Did you ever see -such darling sleeves? It does seem that a girl who could not be happy -in them must—” - -“Have at least a boil on her chin! Yes, doesn’t it? But really, -Dorothy, you make me ashamed of caring so much for such vanities. Why, -those very sleeves cost me two whole nights’ rest!” - -“Never mind about that, dear; we can’t all be intellectual. Look here, -Emily Marshmallow, if you’ll promise never to breathe it as long as you -live, I’ll tell you the last mean thing that Frances—” - -“Oh, do! She has a new gown that would arouse the envy of Dr. Mary -Walker. All chiffon, spangles, embroidery and—” - -“I know. My story has reference to that very gown. You know how very -mysterious she always is about her new things!” - -“M’hm. As if anybody cared to know about them! Do tell me if her waist -is made—” - -“Well, I—you see, it was this way: I knew she was having her new gown -made at Madame’s, and I accidentally discovered that she was to be -fitted on Friday at two.” - -“Oh, I see. Then, you called upon Frances at one o’clock, thinking that -she’d take you along, rather than risk offending Madame by being late?” - -“No; Frances isn’t afraid of Madame—she doesn’t owe her anything. -I just happened in at Madame’s at half-past two. They told me she -was busy, but I said I knew she wouldn’t mind if I stepped into the -fitting-room for a minute, as I had a letter from Paris and wanted to -tell her all about the new skirts.” - -“Oh, you clever thing!” - -“Yes. So in I bounced, and there stood Frances, all in billowy waves of -turquoise blue and—” - -“But I thought her new gown was green and white, with—” - -“And you should have seen how sweetly she smiled. So sweetly that I -knew she was wild with rage!” - -“But did you make it right with the Madame? Did—” - -“Pretended that I must have left the Paris letter at home, and told her -I’d fetch it the next day. Then, after a good, long look at Frances, I -came away and—” - -“And ran in to tell all the other girls how her new gown was made?” - -“M’hm. Annie first: you know, she hasn’t a bit of originality and -she said, at once, that she’d have her new one just like it. Then, I -dropped in at Evelyn’s tea and—” - -“Told all the others, too. M’hm.” - -“Yes. But what do you think that cat, Frances, had done? She’d been -there before me and told them all that I had come into the fitting-room -out of sheer curiosity—I curious, the idea! And the gown she was trying -on was not her own, after all, she said, but one about which Madame -had asked her opinion and—” - -“Gracious, do you suppose that was the truth?” - -“Alas, I know it;” groaned the blue-eyed girl, “it belonged to Jack’s -sister, Effie! Now, Effie detests Annie and when she sees her in a gown -which is an exact reproduction of her own, she will—” - -“Won’t she, though? Well, my dear, Effie was an unknown quantity -before, but now you may depend upon one thing—she will use any -influence she may have with Jack against you.” - -“True. And all because of such a silly thing, too! But, then, people -are so frivolous. Well, you will join my new club, won’t you?” - -“Mercy, yes. You had better invite Frances, too; she will tell Effie -all about it, and the first time Effie is offended with Jack, she will -tell him, thinking to annoy you both—” - -“I shall, though it is hardly necessary, either, for, once started, -everybody will talk of nothing else. But, whatever you do, don’t tell -Dick a word about it. Evelyn’s husband is sure to tell him, anyhow, and -then he can’t say that women never keep secrets.” - -“What utter nonsense. Of course women can keep secrets! Why, I once -knew a girl intimately for two whole years and in all that time she -never told me that her curls were false. I wouldn’t have known it to -this day, if I hadn’t walked into her room one day when she had washed -them and hung them up to dry. I’ve told that story to a dozen men, and -I’ve never yet found one of them magnanimous enough to acknowledge that -it proved my point!” - -“You can’t prove anything to a man, dear, unless he wants it proved. -Well, I must go. You’ll not fail me at the first meeting of the Teacup -club, then?” - -“The Teacup club,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, -disappointedly, “Why I thought it was to be a really intellectual club, -and—” - -“So it is. But, you know, real merit is always modest. If a lot of men -get up such a thing, they give it a six-syllabled name; but we wish to -evade, rather than seek, notoriety and, besides, as I said before, once -we get it started, the whole town will talk of nothing else!” - -It fell upon a bright sunshiny day, and the meeting for the -organization of the Teacup club was well attended. - -“And all the girls are wearing their newest gowns, too,” whispered the -blue-eyed girl to the girl with the dimple in her chin, “that shows -that they appreciate the importance of the undertaking.” - -“And what an awfully becoming hat you are wearing,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin. “If I owned such a milliner’s dream I should -not mind anything that could happen to me.” - -“Which means that you have something unpleasant to tell me,” said the -blue-eyed girl. “You need not be uneasy,” she added, “I’ll not move a -muscle, for Frances is looking this way.” - -“Well, then, I heard her tell Nell that Jack comes to her almost every -day for sympathy and—” - -“Humph. When a man says ‘sympathy’ he means flattery! Is that all?” - -“All? Why I thought—” - -“Yes, dear. You see, I thought perhaps you had stronger proof than her -own assertion. Why, Frances, dear, how well you are looking to-day! I -have not seen you for such an age that I thought you must be out of -town.” - -“Has it seemed so long to you, dear?” returned the brown-eyed blonde. -“Now, to me the days go so swiftly that, as I sometimes tell Ja—Mr. -Bittersweet, I mean—I often forget whether it is Saturday or Monday!” - -“So you have seen the poor fellow, have you?” returned the blue-eyed -girl, with an angelic smile; “it is so good of you to console him. But, -indeed, you are always good about such things and so modest about it, -too, that but for the men themselves, we should never know how hard -you work just to induce them to come and be comforted!” - -“I—why,—I—” stammered the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Yes, indeed, I was defending you only the other day. I was quite angry -with Marion for saying that your house should be called ‘An Asylum for -the Rejected.’ I was so indignant that I just told her that, for my -part, I thought we all ought to be grateful to you for consoling the -poor fellows and helping to keep them out of mischief when they are -feeling so badly. I reminded her, too, that you must do it out of pure -philanthropy—for you never seem to get anything out of it. Really, I -never saw you looking quite so well; you have such a fine color and—oh, -here is Evelyn, at last, and we can call the meeting to order!” - -“Why, Evelyn is wearing her old gown,” cried the girl with the classic -profile, “I call that downright mean! I had thought I could get such a -good chance to study the draping of it while she was on the platform.” - -“Perhaps, that is why she didn’t wear it,” returned the girl with the -eyeglasses. “Mercy, is it me they are calling to order? Why, didn’t you -tell me before; I—” - -“Dear me, girls,” the little woman on the platform was saying, “I don’t -know that I ought to be president. It seems to me that we should have -an election or something.” - -“That is not necessary,” said the blue-eyed girl, “don’t you remember? -I asked you to be president, in the first place. But if you’d rather, -I’ll move that you are to be the chief officer, and Emily, here, will -second the motion, won’t you Emily?” - -“Why, yes of course,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“That does seem more regular,” said the little woman on the platform, -in a relieved tone. “I wonder if I ought to make a speech of -acceptance?” - -“Not unless you choose;” said the blue-eyed girl, “harmony is the -chief study of this club, and—” - -“Oh, if it is to be a club for the study of harmony, I can’t join;” -said the girl with the eyeglasses, “I don’t know a thing about music -and—” - -“I’m afraid you have not been paying attention,” said the blue-eyed -girl, severely. “The club is organized for the advancement of woman and -I don’t know a girl anywhere who would be more benefited by it than -yourself. By the way, Evelyn, I suppose we ought to assess dues, or -something. I know that Ja—I mean a man I know—is always talking about -dues at his clubs.” - -“Oh, but this is to be entirely different from a man’s club,” said the -president, “and, then, what is the use of assessing dues, anyhow?” - -“We might give the money to charity,” suggested the girl with the -classic profile. - -“Oh, well, if we did that, why not let each of us give what she wants -to charity and be done with it?” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“Yes, of course,” said the president; “dear me, I had no idea that -it was so easy to organize a club, or I’d have done it long ago. It -isn’t half as much trouble as giving a tea and you don’t run any risk -of offending people by forgetting to invite them and then having to -convince them that the card was lost in the mails.” - -“Talking of teas,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “I—” - -“Pardon me,” said the president, gently, “but if this is a club for the -advancement of woman, ought we to talk about teas?” - -“But you began it, yourself,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “I -only—” - -“I think I said merely that the club is ever so much nicer than a tea,” -said the president. - -“And so it is,” said the blue-eyed girl, “though, by the way, Nell’s -last one was lovely—there were enough men present to amuse us, whereas—” - -“There are usually so few that they have to be amused, lest they get -lonesome,” broke in the brown-eyed blonde. “Oh, girls, have you heard -that Clarissa—” - -“Oughtn’t we to be attending to business,” said the girl with the Roman -nose, “instead of talking about Clarissa? I saw her myself only an hour -ago and if there was anything exciting to tell, she would have—” - -“But this _has_ a connection with the club,” insisted the brown-eyed -blonde. “She wants to become a member!” - -“She just can’t be anything of the kind,” said the blue-eyed girl, -“the idea! A girl whose reputation for intellectuality rests upon the -careless combing of her hair and a habit of wearing hats six months -behind the mode.” - -“But how can we get out of it, if she says she wants to join?” said the -president, with an anxious air. - -“Tell her that one of the rules of the club is that no person over the -age of twenty-two years can become a member,” suggested the girl with -the dimple in her chin; “she celebrated her twenty-third birthday -about a week ago, you remember.” - -“But it isn’t one of the rules,” objected the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Then, we can make it a rule, right now,” said the blue-eyed girl, -calmly. “I know just how it would be if we let Clarissa into the -club—she’d insist upon having everything her own way right along. I -hate such selfishness myself, and—” - -“So do I,” said the president; “by the way, oughtn’t we to make a note -of that rule, at once?” - -“What would be the use of that?” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin, “we have all heard it. Oh, girls, I already see the benefit -we are to derive from the influence of this club! Not a single soul -has said a word in regard to Clarissa’s pretentions to being only -twenty-three!” - -“Why, that’s true,” cried the president, “and very considerate of us it -was, too, when we all know how ridiculous it is!” - -“Oh, girls, I must tell you something,” cried the girl with the -eyeglasses. “I went with Clarissa to a reception given by her literary -club the other evening and it was simply awful!” - -“Not a decent toilet in the room, of course,” said the brown-eyed -blonde. - -“Oh, I didn’t expect that—I knew it was a culture club. It seems that -there had been an awful time over the programme. Some of the members -wanted to have an Ibsen evening, while others declared for Browning. -Finally, they decided upon a mixed programme, selections from them -both, you know. I did not know that when I went.” - -“I should think not,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “otherwise, -you—” - -“Would gladly have accepted the invitation—and been suddenly taken ill -on the appointed day, of course. Well, when the papers and selections -were being read, I studied my programme to keep my eyes from those -appalling coiffures, and when I saw the word ‘Music’ on it, I felt like -a person who has found an oasis in a desert!” - -“And had you?” queried the president, who had left the platform and -joined the group about the narrator. - -“No. They played something from Wagner!” - -“And you?” said the girl with the classic profile. - -“Oh, I was in a comatose condition by that time. Nothing mattered. -After the interminable programme they served refreshments.” - -“You felt better then?” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“No, I didn’t. They had tea and wafers! Tea and wafers after Ibsen, -Browning and Wagner! And then Clarissa vanished and I couldn’t get -away. The people present were all very distinguished; one of the -members had written an epic poem which would have appeared in Harper’s -if it had not been lost in the mails; one of them had invented a -rational dress for men and another had once been asked to deliver a -lecture upon ‘Thought Transference’ before a mothers’ meeting at an -orphan asylum!” - -“My goodness, no wonder you wanted to go home!” cried the brown-eyed -blonde. - -“I did—badly. By and by, while I was wandering about the rooms in -search of Clarissa, I found a woman who looked as unhappy as I felt. I -was afraid to speak to her, lest she be somebody very remarkable, but -she asked me, timidly, if I was the lady who had actually worn a rainy -day dress, in public. I assured her that I was not, and after that we -got on famously.” - -“But who was she?” the president asked. - -“I don’t know her name, but after we had discussed Ibsen and Browning -a little, I asked what she had done. She replied, modestly: ‘Oh, I am -the person who always read the Woman’s page in the daily papers!’ After -that, we talked just like ordinary people, and I didn’t see Clarissa -when she came to look for me!” - -“My goodness, girls, we really ought not to laugh so,” said the girl -with the Roman nose, “because this club is devoted to the advancement -of woman, and—” - -“That is entirely different,” said the president. “Did Ibsen, Browning -or Wagner ever do anything for the advancement of woman, I’d like to -know?” - -“Of course not,” said the blue-eyed girl, promptly. “How very absurd!” - -“Besides, our club is laid out on entirely new lines,” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin. - -“Yes, isn’t it?” returned the president; “Oh, girls, I quite forgot to -tell you that we shall have to pay rent for this room if we hold our -meetings here, and we haven’t made any provision for paying it.” - -“But what is the use of making provision, when it isn’t due yet?” asked -the blue-eyed girl. - -“Why—er, that is very true,” said the president; “I only wish I was as -good a business woman as you!” - -“Oh, I often feel that I have a great deal to learn yet,” said the -blue-eyed girl, modestly. “By the way, Evelyn, what did your husband -say when you told him that you had decided to join a club?” - -“He said—Oh, girls, I’m almost ashamed to tell you, but then Tom is -only a man, after all. He said: ‘Then, may the Lord have mercy upon my -wretched digestion!’” - -“As if women had nothing to do but cook and keep house! when lots of -us know nothing about either of them,” said the girl with the classic -profile, indignantly. “Girls, I wonder why it is that if a woman -studies law or anything like that, somebody is sure to say that she is -going outside of her sphere, while nobody thinks anything of the kind -if a man becomes a chef or invents a food for infants?” - -“Oh, if you expect logic from a man!” said the president, shrugging her -shoulders; “however, I expected it, too, before I was married. I know -better now.” - -“Dear, dear, isn’t the Advancement of Woman delightful?” cried the -girl with the eyeglasses. “After this, when we want to know anything, -we needn’t go to the trouble of looking it up in the dictionary or the -encyclopædia; we can just discuss it at the club, and—” - -“Why do you bother with those horrid books? I never do,” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin. “They are so heavy and always dusty, too. -Now, I just ask the nearest man what I want to know. If he happens to -be wrong, I can always cite my authority and it gives the next man a -double pleasure in setting me right.” - -“What a clever thing you are,” said the girl with the eyeglasses; “you -always make me think of what somebody said about er—Juliet, I think: -‘To know her is a liberal education.’” - -“Oh, that is nothing. Why, I know a Vassar girl who has studied Greek -and all that sort of thing and she invariably misspells several simple -words whenever she writes to a man, so he may think himself so much -cleverer than her and—” - -“And I know a girl who asks every man, the first time she meets him, to -explain the Australian ballot system. You see, it is a thing they all -have to know, so they—” - -“Goodness me, I should think she would get awfully tired of the -answer,” said the president. - -“She does. She told me not long ago that she really must invent a new -stock question, for she could hardly keep from yawning now, while—” - -“Speaking of yawning,” broke in the brown-eyed blonde, “Teddy Crœsus -doesn’t send Molly flowers or bonbons any more!” - -“I don’t see what that has to do with yawning,” said the girl with the -Roman nose. - -“More than you may think, dear. You know Molly always asks a man if a -premonition of danger has ever been the means of saving his life. She -doesn’t ask it the first time they meet, but saves it for some special -occasion. Well, one evening at a reception, Teddy seemed disposed to -talk to Florence too much, and Molly asked him the question then, -because she knew—” - -“That he would stay with her as long as she allowed him to talk about -himself! Yes, of course,” said the blue-eyed girl. - -“M’hm. Well, he was in the midst of a long story about how he once -escaped from being in a railroad wreck by missing his train. Molly was -listening with breathless interest when she saw Florence stop within -two feet of her. She couldn’t resist one glance of triumph and that -glance was her ruin.” - -“It was? Did he look up just then and remember Flo—” - -“No, dear. But just as Molly looked at her, she gave a mighty yawn. -Well, you know, yawning is contagious and Molly had been at a ball the -night before, so she yawned, too. Teddy’s eyes were on her and—” - -“And now Florence gets his violets and bonbons! Well, isn’t that a -story without a moral?” cried the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“It certainly is,” groaned the president. “Well, girls, I fear we must -adjourn, though it is hard to break up such an intellectual talk. For -my part, I shall go back to the petty cares of life with renewed -energy after a breath of air from a higher plane.” - -“I, too,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “I feel now as if petty -gossip and scandal could never interest me again.” - -The president and the blue-eyed girl had walked four blocks, when the -former suddenly stopped. - -“There, I knew I had forgotten something,” she cried; “at first, I -thought it was only to order dinner, but now I remember that I did not -suggest a topic for discussion at our next meeting!” - -“Oh, pshaw, that makes no difference,” said the blue-eyed girl, “nobody -would have had time to prepare anything for it, if you had; there is so -much going on in our set this week, and—” - -“Very true,” replied the president, “and all the members are so much -interested in intellectual topics, anyhow, that they are quite prepared -to discuss them extemporaneously as we did to-day.” - - - - -Chapter II - -The Club Discusses Woman in Politics - - -The Teacup club was called to order fifteen minutes before the -appointed time at its second meeting. “We are all here, you know, and -there is no use in waiting,” observed the president, as she rapped for -order with a jeweled hatpin. - -“Hear, hear,” said the girl with the Roman nose, who had been reading -up in parliamentary usage. - -“I am so glad to see you all here,” said the president, “I was afraid -that Effie’s luncheon might—” - -“Keep some of us away? Not from this club,” said the girl with the -classic profile. “I believe she chose the day just on purpose to break -up the meeting, so I declined her invitation.” - -“Did you?” said the girl with the Roman nose, “I didn’t. Effie is not -popular enough to offer her guests badly cooked food, so I went and -excused myself as soon as we rose from the table on the plea that I -should be late for the club if I remained longer.” - -“I wish I might have seen Effie when you said that,” remarked the girl -with the eyeglasses. “However, your turn came when the door closed -after you.” - -“I think not, dear,” said the girl with the Roman nose, calmly, “Effie -is not yet distinctly engaged to my cousin Clarence, so—” - -“She has to be on decent terms with his family! I might have thought of -that,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“If they had been married, now of course I shouldn’t have dared to do -it, but—” - -“I should think not. Oh, girls, speaking of what happens after the door -closes, makes me think of what happened to Effie herself once. It was -just after the affair with Teddy Crœsus, you know.” - -“The time she thought to make people believe she was engaged to him, -and took him to dine with her grandmother—” - -“And her grandmother failed to understand the situation and -congratulated them! Indeed, I do,” cried the girl with the Roman nose, -“although, on account of being her dearest friend, I failed to hear it -until two days after everybody else had.” - -“Well, you know she went to a breakfast at Nell’s a few days after -that,” went on the girl with the eyeglasses, “and left early. As she -reached the corner, she remembered a message for Nell and went back to -deliver it. She burst into the room unannounced and found all the girls -talking at once.” - -“About her, of course! What did—” - -“Yes. Any other girl would have known that, but Effie said: ‘Oh, girls, -do tell me all about it; what has happened?’” - -“Well?” - -“And it was so sudden that not one of them could think of a thing to -say until she had flounced out in a rage!” - -“The moral is: Never go back after once saying good-by,” said the -president. - -“True,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “by the way, Dorothy, why weren’t -you at Effie’s to-day?” - -“I fancy my invitation was lost in the mail,” replied the blue-eyed -girl. “I shall mention it to Effie as soon as I see her, so she will -not feel that I’ve slighted her intentionally. Why, Frances, dear, did -those mean things let you sit all through luncheon with the end of -your, ah—detachable hair showing and a dab of powder on your nose? How -mean and envious some people are!” - -“I—I think it is cooler over on the other side,” panted the brown-eyed -blonde, “and besides I must see Emily a minute.” - -“Why, Dorothy, you must have just heard something awfully nice, you -look so happy and smiling,” said the girl with the classic profile, -“but really this delightful club is making us all amiable.” - -“Yes, isn’t it?” said the blue-eyed girl, “I couldn’t be really mean to -anybody now, if I tried.” - -“Excuse me for interrupting you, girls,” said the president, “but I -want to announce our topic for discussion, and if I don’t do it at once -I may forget it. Suppose we choose “Woman as a Political Factor?” That -is a broad enough field even for us, and—” - -“So it is,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “Well, I know one -thing—whenever a woman really knows what she wants in a political line, -she gets it.” - -“She does—and has ever since Eve held that first caucus with the -serpent in the garden,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“Hear, hear!” cried the girl with the Roman nose, who had been -furtively consulting her book on parliamentary usage. “Oh, girls, have -you heard that the man Nell expects to marry is a politician?” - -“No; but it seems a very suitable match,” said the president, “for I -don’t know a girl anywhere who can shake hands as gracefully as she -does.” - -“Dear me, Evelyn, how generous you are,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. “I believe you could find something nice to say about -everybody.” - -“I really believe I could,” said the president, modestly, “and, after -all, it is easy enough, for if you don’t like the subject of your -remarks, you can always say it in such a tone that it does more harm -than good.” - -“You are so just,” sighed the girl with the classic profile, “and yet, -men always declare there is no real fellowship among women!” - -“They confuse their own wish with the true state of affairs,” said the -girl with the dimple in her chin. “They know that one woman is often -more than a match for the whole male sex and when a number of women -band together they—” - -“Usually get more than they want,” said the president. “I often wonder, -though, why it is always so much easier to convince other men that you -are in the right than it is to persuade the men of your own family?” - -“Perhaps we put it in a more flattering way to strangers,” suggested -the girl with the dimple in her chin, “we just can’t help it, though, -for we can’t always be—” - -“Looking up?” said the girl with the Roman nose. “Of course not—if we -were our necks would grow so stiff that—” - -“We could never see our own boots; besides, we would be such frights -that no man would look at us and so—” - -“It would do no good in the end,” finished the blue-eyed girl. “Still, -I sometimes fancy, after all, that it might be well to be as nice to -papa and the boys as I am to the men I dance with!” - -“My goodness,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “we must be -getting into metaphysics now! I’m not quite sure as to what metaphysics -may be, so I always conclude that everything I don’t understand must—” - -“Be metaphysics? Do you? For my part, I always confuse metaphysics with -hydraulics, though there is some difference between them I know,” said -the brown-eyed blonde. “Let us ask Evelyn to explain them right now. -She—” - -“Some other time, dear;” said the president, hastily. “You know we are -discussing Woman in Politics to-day and—” - -“It would be unparliamentary to discuss anything else,” said the girl -with the Roman nose. - -The president looked at her gratefully. - -“What a logical mind you have, dear,” she said. “I only wish you could -be with me sometimes when Tom comes home late from his club. I know -that there are all sorts of flaws in the stories he tells me, but -somehow I never find them until after he has given me money and I’ve -kissed him and made up.” - -“What a pity,” sighed the girl with the Roman nose, “for if you found -out the real flimsiness of his stories sooner, you could get more -money.” - -“Oh, dear, so I could,” wailed the president, “it is an awful thing to -have a husband and not a logical mind!” - -“So it is,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “but, Evelyn, don’t -tell anybody your opinion of me, for if you do, it may end in my having -a logical mind and no husband, which is worse!” - -“Oh, isn’t this beautiful!” cried the girl with the eyeglasses, -suddenly. “Really, girls, I am so stupid—that is not stupid as compared -to a man, of course, but to the rest of you—that I wonder you allow me -to belong to the club!” and there were tears in her eyes as she spoke. - -The president came down from the platform and kissed her. - -“Stupid! the idea of a girl with such a genius for hairdressing being -stupid,” she cried. - -“And that girl a chafing-dish cook whose Welsh rarebits are sometimes -successful, too!” cried the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Oh! speaking of chafing-dish cookery,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin. “You know that Annie used to be engaged to Eustace, don’t -you?” - -“Yes. But what has that to do with chafing-dish cookery?” said the girl -with the Roman nose. “Girls, I have the loveliest recipe for making—” - -“It has a great deal to do with it. When he married Claire, Annie just -smiled and selected a chafing-dish as a wedding present. She knew that -Eustace was a confirmed dyspeptic and that Claire’s hands are so pretty -that she could not possibly resist an opportunity to display them, so -she would cook all sorts of dishes and—” - -“By the way, I hear that they have agreed to separate,” said the -president. “I met Claire on the way to the manicure the other day. I -wonder where Eustace is?” - -“He is in a sanitarium,” replied the girl with the dimple in her chin, -“the doctor thinks he will have to be taken into court on a stretcher -when the divorce proceedings come up!” - -“And yet you told me the other day that Annie had no originality; I’ve -learned this since then,” whispered the girl with the dimple in her -chin to the blue-eyed girl. - -“I only meant in the matter of gowns, dear,” was the apologetic reply. -“By the way, Frances seems not quite herself, to-day.” - -“I’ve noticed that. I fancied you might have said something to her -which—” - -“Oh, never; why, I consider Frances one of my dearest friends—” - -“I know that, dear. But what is the use of a friend, if you can’t be -disagreeable to her sometimes?” - -“True. I sometimes think it is one reason that married women keep their -friends longer. They have husbands to—” - -“Act as lightning rods and carry off their displeasure! Yes; it must -really be quite a convenience.” - -“Very likely. Don’t you feel, after all, that Jack—” - -“Jack? Oh, I suppose you mean Mr. Bittersweet! No, I don’t feel any -such thing, Emily Marshmallow, and you are no friend of mine if you -champion him after the way he has behaved to me!” - -“I—I was only going to mention that he had resigned from that new club. -He told me so himself.” - -“Oh, he has, has he? Well, isn’t that just like a man? And after he had -paid all his dues for a year in advance, too, and gotten nothing out of -it!” - -“Perhaps he—he did it hoping to please you, dear.” - -“His actions are perfectly indifferent to me, I assure you. Besides, if -I made up with him to-morrow, Frances would always think I was jealous. -I jealous of her—the idea! And, oh, Emily, the way he—he flirts with -that girl is enough to b—break my heart!” - -“If you two girls have anything interesting to say, I wish you would -say it aloud,” broke in the president. “Of course I am not curious, but -some of the others may—” - -“Nothing at all interesting,” said the blue-eyed girl, promptly; “I—I -was just telling Emily that this club seems the one thing needed to -fill my cup of happiness to overflowing!” - -“And mine!” said the girl with the Roman nose. “By the way, isn’t it -too provoking that curls are coming in again, just as veils are going -out!” - -“And just at the windiest season of the year, too,” wailed the -brown-eyed blonde. “Really, I often think that the fashions are -invented by men—they are so contrary!” - -“Pardon me,” said the president, “I did not quite catch what you were -saying, because Emily and Marion were both talking at the same time. -It seems to me that since I have been married, I can’t follow even two -conversations simultaneously, as I used.” - -“Speaking of that,” said the girl with the eyeglasses, “who do you tell -your secrets to now that you are married?” - -“Why, I’ve hit on a splendid plan,” cried the president, “when I feel -that I must just tell a secret or die—and I often feel that way—I wait -until Tom is asleep and repeat the whole story in his ear. It relieves -my mind and does no harm.” - -“Don’t be too sure of that,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. -“My sister Helen doesn’t agree with you at all. You mentioned it to -her the other day and she thought it clever, and resolved to emulate -your wisdom, so she tried it on her husband, and he wasn’t asleep, only -pretending.” - -“But I always test my husband with a question or two, first,” said the -president. - -“So did Helen. She asked him if he could fail to see how much she -needed a new bonnet and wanted to know how much his share of the alumni -banquet amounted to. He only snored in reply, and of course she thought -she was safe and repeated the secret.” - -“With the result?” queried the blue-eyed girl, who was listening, -breathless. - -“That it was all over his club the next day,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “It would not have made any difference,” she added, -soberly, “only the secret was a rather clever trick I had played on -Dick a few days before—and he belongs to the same club!” - -“And yet they say a man can keep a secret!” said the girl with the -Roman nose. - -“Who says so?” queried the girl with the eyeglasses. “Other men? Oh! I -didn’t know but that you had heard some woman say so.” - -“Not unless a man was listening, dear, and that man a person whom—” - -“She wished to flatter immensely!” - -“Yes. Or who happened to know some of her own secrets! Girls, I’ve been -wondering what on earth Annie sees in that horrid Fred Van Stupid? Now, -I can understand the interest a girl takes in a brainless man who has a -great deal of money, because then—” - -“He is exposed to so many temptations and her influence is sure to do -him good,” finished the girl with the dimple in her chin, “for my part, -I always let Ned Goldie come to see me oftener than usual during Lent. -I feel that I am really doing some good and—” - -“Violets are an absolute necessity then and they are so dear that very -few men can afford to present them in quantities.” - -“Oh, of course I let him bring me flowers if he wants to—it is so much -better for him to spend his money in that way than to lose it at poker, -that I feel quite a missionary.” - -“H’m; I don’t know about that, dear, though it’s very lovely of you to -feel so,” sighed the president, “the fact is, that you are actually -encroaching on what is really my violet money. Ned will play poker with -my husband at the club at other seasons of the year, when he is not -allowed to see much of you. He always loses and I make Tom divide his -winnings with me, so—” - -There was a look of high resolve upon the face of the girl with the -dimple in her chin. - -“After this, I shall make him bring me twice as many, so I can divide -with you,” she said, sweetly. “Oh, no, don’t thank me; I do so love to -feel that I am doing some good in the world and I do so disapprove of -games of chance!” - -“You haven’t made up your mind as to whether you will accept him or -not, have you?” queried the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Not yet, dear. His chances and Dick’s are about even, at present. -Of course he doesn’t know that, though; I couldn’t exert such a good -influence over him, if he was sure one way or the other.” - -“True,” sighed the president. “Oh, girls, I don’t know why men are so -much more willing to be influenced for good before they are married -than after. You may be sure of one thing though, Emily; he will say -horrid things about you, if you finally do refuse him.” - -“No doubt,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “but when one -tries to do good in this world, one can not begin to count the cost.” - -“Oh, Emily Marshmallow, what an angel you are!” cried the blue-eyed -girl, kissing her. “You are always so busy doing good to others, that -you never seem to give yourself a thought!” - -The brown-eyed blonde had by this time quite recovered her equanimity -and was chatting, in low tones, with the girl who wore the eyeglasses. - -“Poor, dear Dorothy is looking rather ill, isn’t she?” she remarked, -after a while. - -“Why, I hadn’t noticed it before, but now that you speak of it, she -does. However, she can’t expect to look young always. By the way, I -hear that she has quarreled with Jack Bittersweet again.” - -“Has she seen him lately? I didn’t know that she had,” returned the -brown-eyed blonde, smiling affectionately into the mirror. - -“Your hair is looking lovely to-day,” returned the girl with the -eyeglasses. “Look here, Frances, do, like a dear, tell me all about the -quarrel. You know all about it, of course, and I’ll not tell a soul. -You know how well I can keep a secret and, besides, you owe it to me, -for you wouldn’t have known a thing about Fred and Clarissa but for me!” - -“But I hadn’t a thing to do about the quarrel, oh, really now I hadn’t. -Of course, people think it was all on my account but—why, I was in -Omaha when I heard of it.” - -“By the way you came back from Omaha earlier than you expected, didn’t -you?” - -“I—no; that is only a week earlier. How well Jack looks, doesn’t he? -And what a flow of spirits he has.” - -“Is it possible? Now, Effie says that he is as cross as a bear. But, -then, Effie is his sister, so—” - -“What she says is of no consequence. Well, since you know so much -already, I may as well tell you the rest. I fear that it is Dorothy’s -insane jealousy of me which made the trouble. Of course I have not a -spark of vanity, but I can’t help seeing—” - -“But I heard that the quarrel was over Jack’s membership in a new club.” - -“That might have been, dear, but people that are engaged don’t always -quarrel over the real bone of contention. Of course, I only hope I -really had nothing to do with it; I have so many such things on my -conscience already that I don’t want any more,” and she sighed softly. - -“Yes, but tell me about the quarrel, do.” - -“Well—er—the fact is that Jack hasn’t said a word to me about it, -which makes me quite sure that I am the cause of it, unwilling as I am -to think it.” - -“Then, you really don’t know any of the facts?” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. “Excuse me now, dear, I see Emily beckoning me; she wants -to ask me about a new seamstress I’ve discovered. Frances doesn’t know -a bit more than we do,” she whispered to the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “Jack hasn’t told her a thing, so he evidently still cares -for Dorothy, and she—” - -“That’s just it,” wailed the girl with the dimple in her chin. “I’d -have succeeded in making it up long ago, if they didn’t care quite so -much!” - -“Oh, dear,” said the president, “I am afraid that I am awfully stupid -to-day, but the fact is that—” - -“By the way, I heard that you slept at a hotel last night, Evelyn,” -said the girl with the Roman nose, “how on earth did that happen?” - -“It was all Tom’s fault,” returned the president, in an aggrieved -tone, “only he, being a man, will not admit the fact. You see, he -didn’t want to go to the reception at all, so he—” - -“But, Nell said she met him in the street and gave him a verbal -invitation, which he accepted with effusion.” - -“Pshaw, if Nell knew my husband as well as I do, she’d be aware that -the more affably he accepts an invitation, the more determined he is to -escape by some plausible excuse at the last moment. He says that people -always accept your regrets as genuine under such circumstances.” - -“Thank you for telling me that,” said the girl with the classic -profile. “My great aunt gives whist parties sometimes and, as she has -a lot of lovely old lace and china and nobody in particular to leave -it to, I don’t like to hurt her feelings by refusing her invitations -outright. On the other hand, if I accept and happen to be placed at the -table with her, I know I shall not receive so much as a cracked saucer -in her will!” - -“But you and Tom did go to the reception, I know, for I saw you -there,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “how did you manage it?” - -“To make him go? Oh, that was easy enough. I merely said that he wasn’t -very well and as I did not like to go out and leave him alone, I would -ask mamma to come and stay with him.” - -“Oh, then he agreed to go, did he?” - -“Yes, dear—said he had meant to go all along. But after that everything -went wrong: his razor refused to do its work and he actually pretended -that it was all because I had sharpened a lead pencil with it the other -day, as if that could have—” - -“But why did you tell him that you had sharpened your pencil with it?” -asked the blue-eyed girl. - -“Because I cut my finger on the old thing and thoughtfully warned him -that it was too sharp. Then, I—well my own wardrobe was full and I had -hung up a few things in his, and the skirt of my new tailor-made gown -was hanging over his dress coat. He pretended that it was all wrinkled -and creased by that. Then, I had borrowed his box of neckties and -neglected to return them, and he made such a fuss over my forgetfulness -that I determined to give him a lesson. I saw him lay his latch key on -the chiffonier ready to put in his other pocket and I didn’t say a word -when he turned out the gas and went off without it.” - -“But how did you expect to get into the house when you returned?” - -“Oh! I slipped back into the room in the dark after he had gone down, -and put it in my own pocket.” - -“As an object lesson in remembering. Good, I’m glad you did it,” said -the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“M’hm. I told the maid not to sit up for us, and I saw for myself that -every door and window was fastened tight—for once Tom climbed in at the -pantry window when he had forgotten his key and didn’t want me to know -how late he stayed at the club.” - -“I suppose he complained next day because the window was open, too,” -murmured the girl with the dimple in her chin, “men are so illogical!” - -“Well, no, dear; but he would have done so, only the clock happened to -strike three as he came upstairs, and I counted the strokes aloud. Well -Tom was cross at being kept waiting, but my gown fits so well that I -felt at peace with all mankind.” - -“Even your own husband!” said the brown-eyed blonde. “It must indeed -fit well.” - -“Yes. And I enjoyed the evening immensely, for I knew I had such a good -joke on Tom when we got home.” - -“Yes, and what happened then?” asked the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“Oh, it was great fun. He searched in all his pockets twice, rang the -bell until he was tired, though the maids asleep in the third story -might as well have been in Greenland for all the good that did. Then, -he tried to force each door and window before he came back to the -carriage to tell me that we were locked out!” - -“And then you—” - -“I said: ‘Why didn’t you tell me before, dear? Luckily, there is one -of us who remembers things.’ If you could only have seen his face as he -took the key I gave him!” - -“Then why on earth did you sleep at the hotel?” queried the girl with -the Roman nose, in a bewildered tone. - -“I—well, the fact is that I—in the dark, I had mistaken the key to his -desk for the latch-key! And, oh, girls, if you had seen me driving home -from the hotel at ten o’clock in the morning, in the gown I had worn at -the reception!” - -“You poor, dear thing!” cried the blue-eyed girl, “no wonder you chose -‘Woman in Politics’ for to-day’s discussion! If men are such tyrants as -that, our only refuge will be equality in suffrage and—” - -“Latchkeys,” said the girl with the eyeglasses, “though to be sure, -we’d need pockets to keep them in, if we carried them. Sometimes, I -suspect that the dressmakers are in league with the men to keep us from -gaining our rights,” she added. - -“Perhaps they are,” said the blue-eyed girl, with a startled air, “the -men pay the bills and so the dressmakers may be in league with them!” - -“You forget one thing, dear,” said the president, with a superior air. -“It is the women who make the bills. You never heard of a man who -ordered a dress for his wife did you?” - -“I hope not,” replied the girl with the Roman nose, “at least, if she -was obliged to wear it.” - -“Well, dears,” said the president, “we really must adjourn, it is -awfully late, but of course such a serious discussion could not be -hurried. I think I must go and have a cup of bouillon to refresh me -after making such serious demands upon the gray matter of my brain.” - - - - -Chapter III - -Man’s Real Attitude Toward the Progress of Woman - - -The Teacup club came to order with more than its usual reluctance -at its next meeting and the president looked severe. “I wish you -girls would stop talking about Helena and her affairs,” she said. “I -detest gossip, and, besides, I want to hear all about her, too, and -we can talk better after the meeting is over. The topic for to-day’s -discussion will be, ‘Man’s Real Attitude Toward the Progress of Woman.’” - -“I’m glad to hear it,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “Men are such -queer creatures that by the time a girl gets to understand them really -she is too old to attract their attention. Now, if we all put our heads -together—” - -“We may attain wisdom without its accompanying wrinkles,” broke in the -girl with the dimple in her chin; “that is a good idea, for—” - -“It is no real gain to know how to make them bring the proper kind of -flowers and confectionery, if you have to spend the money thus saved on -the beauty doctor; yes, that is true,” sighed the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Widowers, or men who have been engaged several times, are often nice,” -said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“Thank you,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “I like to do -my own training, if it is troublesome. You can’t persuade a widower -that his late wife was not a type of all womanhood, and that is horrid, -especially if she happens to have had a taste for domestic magazines -and molasses candy! That is why a widower is so much less attractive -than a widow; she—” - -“Has learned that men, save for a few leading traits, are all -different,” said the girl with the classic profile. “Yes, matrimony -always widens a woman’s views of the opposite sex, while it narrows -those of a man.” - -“Oh, dear,” said the girl with the Roman nose; “I do wish men would not -do one thing and say another. Now, they are always praising domesticity -in women, as well as shrinking modesty, and yet—” - -“They always overlook the domestic kind of a girl when she does venture -among people,” broke in the brown-eyed blonde. “I know it, and as for -shyness and modesty, it is only the girl who is bold enough to call -attention to those qualities in herself who receives a social reward -for them.” - -“Oh, well,” said the president, “a man with a couple of sisters learns -a great deal about the sex.” - -“Humph!” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “I don’t know why it -is, but the more sisters a man has, the slower he is to enter into -matrimony.” - -“I’ve noticed that myself,” said the girl with the classic profile; -“while girls who have plenty of brothers usually marry before they are -twenty.” - -“Pshaw! That is because the friends of their brothers get a chance to -see them sew on buttons and make caramels,” said the girl with the -Roman nose. - -“No, it isn’t,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “it is -because such a girl has more than one person to oppose the man who -wants to marry her. But talk about masculine inconsistency! It sets me -wild to hear men talk about domesticity and modesty and all that, and -then hang about Kate, a girl who doesn’t know a frying pan from a—a -camera, and who had as lief ask for a thing she wants as to hint for -it—so unfeminine!” - -“I know it,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “Why, she never has -to buy a flower, and as for candy, she has so much that she actually -shares it with the other girls! I go to see her more frequently in -Lent, because my conscience will not allow me to buy any then, and—” - -“And Kate has been engaged six times; she told me so herself,” said the -girl with the eyeglasses. “I declare, it is enough to make a girl—” - -“H’m!” said the president. “Don’t forget, my dears, that while she has -been engaged six times, she has not been married once!” - -“Why—er—that is true,” cried the blue-eyed girl. “You dear, delightful, -clever thing! I am so glad that I just made you be our president.” - -“Oh, well, of course I like it dear; still, as somebody once said, I’d -rather be right than president.” - -“Hear, hear!” cried the girl with the Roman nose. - -“Yes. But, oh, girls, Tom says that all the men in our set are talking -about this club. He says that Jack Bittersweet asked him confidentially -the other day if being intellectual made a woman less loveable. -Luckily, I had just agreed to let him have a masculine dinner party and -he assured Jack that it did not.” - -The blue-eyed girl arose softly from her seat and going over to where -the brown-eyed blonde was sitting, kissed her. “You dear thing,” she -said. “Come over any day you like and you shall see the new sleeve -design I got from Paris yesterday.” - -The girl with the dimple in her chin exchanged glances with the girl -with the eyeglasses. - -“What time in the year do you prefer for a wedding?” asked the latter, -apropos of nothing. - -“Oh, speaking of weddings, that reminds me,” said the girl with the -Roman nose. “I’d have prepared a paper on to-day’s topic, as you -suggested, Evelyn, but Elizabeth asked me to help select her wedding -dress and—well, you know, Elizabeth. It has taken her two days already -and I don’t see any prospect yet of her making up her mind.” - -“And yet she required only five minutes in which to decide to accept -Fred, when he asked her to marry him,” said the president, thoughtfully. - -“I know, dear, but then in this matter of selecting her dress, she had -a choice,” said the brown-eyed blonde. - -“And I’m sure that Elizabeth’s father is delighted to buy her a wedding -dress,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “Oh, Emily, pardon me—I -quite forgot that Elizabeth is your cousin!” - -“Never mind, dear, though I rather like her, in spite of the -relationship. Oh, girls, you have no idea of what an effect this club -is having upon me. Why, I’ve turned my den into a library, cut all the -leaves of my Carlisle and coaxed papa to buy me a handsome writing desk -and do up the walls in forest greens because pink and blue seemed so -frivolous. Now, I can sit in that room and write papers for the club in -real comfort.” - -“You don’t know how pleased I am to hear it,” cried the president, -warmly. “It is quite worth all the labor of selecting topics and -leading the discussion, I assure you. Why, Marion, how late you are! -Don’t you know that the really advanced woman is even ahead of the -clock?” - -“Yes, I do,” panted the girl with the classic profile, “but, really, -I’ve had the most awful time getting here at all! You know I’m always -in trouble, but really this is the worst that—I’ll never go anywhere -with Nell again, unless it’s to my own funeral, and I can’t help -myself, then.” - -“What on earth has Nell done now?” queried the girl with the dimple in -her chin, “don’t you know that you must not expect absolute sanity from -an engaged girl? You said you were going with her to the south side to -call upon some of the relatives of her affianced. Did she take you over -there, and then discover that she didn’t know their exact address? Or -did—” - -“The address was not forgotten. We hadn’t meant to do any shopping -to-day, but we stopped in to buy some thread, and really the new silks -were so cheap that—” - -“You arrived an hour late, and penniless! I know,” said the blue-eyed -girl. - -“N—ot quite. I had ten cents left when we started for home, and we had -to take two lines of cars. Nell and I couldn’t get seats together—in -fact, we were at opposite ends of the car. However, I paid her fare and -signaled the fact to her, receiving a nod in reply.” - -“Well?” said the president, “didn’t she want to pay your fare on the -other line?” - -“She—well, the fact is that she had misunderstood the signal, and paid -our fare again with her own last dime. And there we were three miles -from home, without a penny in our pockets—and the street car company -had a dime it hadn’t earned. But then Nell never had a grain of sense—I -should think by this time she knew that herself.” - -“If she doesn’t, I’m sure you are not to blame, dear,” said the girl -with the Roman nose. “However, for my part, I shall not blame you, even -if you are as cross as a man who is wearing a frayed collar, for the -rest of the afternoon.” - -“But, don’t let us interrupt the proceedings,” said the girl with the -classic profile, “just tell me what to-day’s topic is, and I—” - -“Oh, it is a perfectly delightful one!” said the blue-eyed girl. “Man’s -real attitude toward the Progress of Woman, and—” - -“His real attitude is that of flight,” said the girl with the Roman -nose, “he—” - -“Don’t be flippant, dear, whatever you are,” said the president, -gravely, “we have enough of that to endure from our masculine -acquaintances. It seems to me that a man laughs at whatever he fails to -understand, and then feels that he has replied to the argument.” - -“Perhaps that is the reason that men laugh at so many jokes in which I -can see nothing funny,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“No doubt of it,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “but, girls, never -attempt to imitate them. I did once, and Annie—you know how obtuse she -is—kept asking loudly what I was laughing at, and I couldn’t tell her. -When a man had just made the remark that he was glad to find a girl -with a keen sense of the ridiculous, too!” - -“Just like Annie,” said the blue-eyed girl. “I sometimes wonder whether -she is really obtuse or only malicious. You know how devoted Tommy -Bonds is to music, don’t you? Well, Annie and I once accompanied him to -a Thomas concert, and I wanted to make myself agreeable—” - -“I hope you didn’t do it by conversing while the orchestra was -playing,” said the president. - -“Of course not, goosie. But I remembered that he always says a woman -should be two things—sincere and fond of music. The soloist was a -pianist, I can’t remember his name, but his hair was not at all -remarkable. When he played an encore, Tommy leaned over to me, and -said: ‘Isn’t it charming?’ and I replied, ‘Yes, I like it better every -time I hear it; in fact, I often ask people to play it for me.’ I wish -now that I hadn’t said that.” - -“Why so?” asked the president, “it seems to me just the right thing to -say.” - -“But Annie leaned over asking, loudly, ‘What is the name of it?’ and, -to my horror, Mr. Bonds said he didn’t know, and it was all so sudden -that, to save my life, I couldn’t make up a name! In the silence which -followed, some one in front of us was heard remarking that the encore -was a composition by the pianist himself, and now played for the first -time in public!” - -“And it was all Annie’s fault, too,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “By the way, did I ever tell you how it happened that Mr. -Bonds gave up calling me a delightful conversationalist? No? Well, you -see, he lived almost opposite to us, and he practiced on the ’cello -until papa, who is very fond of De Quincey, said he no longer dared to -read “Murder considered as one of the Fine Arts.” Suddenly he stopped -practicing, and—” - -“Mercy on us, had anything happened to him?” gasped the president, -turning pale. - -“Nothing ever happens to people who deserve it. As it happened, -however, we were no better off, for some one, a new resident of the -street, we supposed, began to practice on the violin seven hours a -day!” - -“It may not have been a newcomer,” observed the girl with the -eyeglasses. “It is a fact that one vigorous soprano is enough to -demoralize a whole neighborhood, and I suppose—” - -“The ’cello is quite as bad? Possibly so, at any rate rents went down -in the neighborhood and placards went up. One day I happened to meet -Mr. Bonds, and as long as my father was not within hearing distance, I -said: ‘Oh, I’m sorry that you have given up your delightful ’cello.’ If -you could have seen the rapture on his face.” - -“I’d rather have seen his face than that of your guardian angel,” -remarked the girl with the classic profile; “but go on; don’t stop.” - -“I wish I had stopped then, but I didn’t. I said, ‘By the way, who is -it that scrapes the violin all day long? I never heard anything so -awful in my life!’ Oh, girls, I—” - -“But I don’t see anything wrong in that,” said the president. - -“He did. You see, he had given up the ’cello and taken to the violin -with the idea of astonishing the world with his genius!” - -“And you live to tell it,” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“M—yes—you see, everything has its compensation. When papa heard what I -had done, he gave me a hundred dollars and his blessing.” - -“What luck some people have,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “while -others—oh, girls, I know something perfectly lovely, but I don’t know -whether I ought to tell it to you or not. My conscience—” - -“Why, Frances,” said the president, “I shall be awfully hurt if you -don’t tell us now. When a girl speaks of her conscience in that way, it -simply means that she distrusts her audience. You might know by this -time, that we never tell anything which transpires at a meeting of this -club.” - -“Of course not,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “Why, Dick -teased me vainly a whole evening to find out the line of argument -advanced in favor of equal suffrage when we discussed ‘Woman in -Politics’ the other day. The janitor must have told him the topic under -discussion,” she added hastily. - -“Very likely,” said the president. “What was that you wished to tell -us, Frances, dear?” - -“It was something that happened to Nell,” said the brown-eyed blonde. -“Her fiancé had told her a great deal of his friend, Mr. Thynker, of -Boston, who is to be his best man, and whom she had never seen. He -appeared suddenly at Mr. Dickenharry’s office the other day, just as -the latter was starting for Milwaukee, and there was barely time for -him to make arrangements with Mr. Thynker to call on Nell the following -afternoon. As it happened, he knew the Vansmiths, and was asked to the -luncheon they gave that day, and seated immediately opposite to Nell. -Of course he didn’t catch her name when they were introduced, and there -was no chance for explanations. Oh, girls, I wonder if I really ought -to finish this?” - -“If you don’t, I shall ask Nell why you didn’t,” said the president. - -“Well, during a lull in the conversation, he leaned forward and, in -loud, clear tones, asked Nell what kind of a girl his friend Tom -Dickenharry had got himself engaged to _this_ time!” - -“M’hm,” said the president, after the laughter had subsided a little, -“that settles one matter in advance, anyhow. It is easy to know upon -whose side the victory will rest when they have their first quarrel -after marriage.” - -“There is one question I would like to ask the members of this club,” -said the girl with the eyeglasses, “and it is one which nearly -disrupted our little Shakespeare club: If you really want to please a -man—any man—what is the best way to go about it?” - -“That is really such a simple question that there is only one answer -possible,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“And that is—” - -“Be born rich.” - -“But, suppose you have neglected that qualification,” persisted the -girl with the eyeglasses. - -“Learn to cook; but never let him taste the result of your cookery,” -said the blue-eyed girl. - -“Yes—or wear his college colors,” said the girl with the classic -profile. - -“Let him do all the talking,” said the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Praise the shape of his head—no matter what it may be,” said the -president. “I wouldn’t tell anybody that,” she added, reflectively, -“only that two fortune tellers and a palmist have assured me that my -husband will outlive me.” - -“Mr. Bonds has a very well-shaped head,” observed the girl with the -eyeglasses, “a little long perhaps, but—” - -“The rotundity of his pocketbook over-balances that,” broke in the girl -with the dimple in her chin. - -“Clarissa says he is generous, too—a rare quality in a really wealthy -man,” said the blue-eyed girl. - -“M—I don’t know about his generosity,” said the president. “A marriage -license is about as inexpensive a thing as a man can buy, and yet he -has displayed no desire to invest in one.” - -“Oh, pshaw, that makes no difference,” said the girl with the Roman -nose, “lots of girls nowadays don’t intend to marry, anyhow, so—” - -“I wonder why they never think to mention the fact publicly until after -they are thirty,” mused the girl with the dimple in her chin; “oh, -girls, shouldn’t you like really to do something wonderful?” - -“I once wore a pair of common-sense shoes a whole month,” said the -blue-eyed girl, modestly. - -“H’m; who was the Englishman?” asked the brown-eyed blonde, “the one -with whom you used to walk at that time, I mean,” she added, pleasantly. - -“It was the spring that Mr. Penny-Lesse was here, but I don’t see what -that had to do with it,” said the blue-eyed girl, with great dignity. - -“Nothing at all of course,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “I only—” - -“You did not meet him, I believe; he was very particular about the -people to whom he was introduced,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin, sweetly. “I did rather an unusual thing myself once—I had five -dollars in my pocketbook when my allowance came due!” - -“Yes, but you had left the pocketbook at my house ten days before, and -thought it was lost,” said the girl with the classic profile, “don’t -you remember, I only brought it over after the shops were closed the -evening before?” - -“Oh, girls,” said the president, “I’ve recently met a woman who has -traveled all through Asia, and—” - -“I suppose she did it in bloomers and one of those horrid, unbecoming, -stiff caps, too,” broke in the brown-eyed blonde. “Well, all I’ve got -to say is that a woman who has the courage to make such a guy of -herself, is brave enough to face all the tigers and mountain lions, -and—er—boa constrictors in Asia.” - -“I don’t believe there are any boa constrictors and mountain lions in -Asia,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “As for tigers—” - -“Mercy, how literal you are!” pettishly replied the brown-eyed blonde. -“Well, buffalos then; how will that suit you? I’m equally afraid of all -of them, myself.” - -“Oh, girls,” cried the girl with the dimple in her chin, “Marion and I -have just had such fun. We have been telling each other the most awful -things that ever happened to us in our lives.” - -“Perhaps that is what made you late, too,” remarked the president, in a -severe tone. - -“N-not exactly. You see, I knew there was something wrong about my -watch, and I could not remember whether it was thirteen minutes fast or -thirteen minutes slow, so—” - -“But do tell us what was the most awful thing that ever happened to -you, Evelyn,” cried the girl with the classic profile. “The very worst -thing that ever befell me was connected with a timepiece. It was last -summer, and a man who—who had been very nice to me was going away early -the next morning. Men were scarce at the seashore, as you know, and -when a lot of the girls saw us sitting on the porch they came over and -spent the evening with us. We just could not get a chance for a word -alone.” - -“I know—I know,” groaned the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“Yes. Well, his train was to go at 5:16 A.M., and he asked me in the -most meaning tone if I cared sufficiently to hear something he had to -say to get up early enough to see him off. I—I said I did.” - -“Well?” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“I set my watch by the hall clock in order to be sure of getting up -in time; then I lay awake nearly all night so I would not oversleep -myself. When I reached the station it was five minutes past six.” - -“Watch stopped?” asked the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“No; Harry had run down to spend that evening with Kate, and she had -set the clock back. The man was married in October to one of the girls -who had risen in time to see him off.” - -“Of course,” said the president. “Speaking of awful things—you all know -how afraid I am of fire.” - -“We do,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “I believe you could smell -a burning match a block away.” - -“Well, the other day our fire insurance ran out, and Tom handed me the -money and asked me to go down and renew it, as he was very busy. I -forgot all about it until night; then I lay awake sniffing smoke until -Tom thought I had influenza again. Next morning I got ready to go and -attend to it at once. I wanted to look nice, too, because one of the -men in that office once told Tom that he had an awfully pretty wife.” - -“How much money did he borrow from Tom that time?” asked the girl with -the dimple in her chin. - -“I was curling my hair,” went on the president, unheeding, “when I -smelled fire. I ran wildly all through the house, with a curl still -wrapped about the iron, trying to locate it!” - -“And did you find any?” asked the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Yes; my own hair was burning,” said the president, with a groan. - -“How awful!” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “That reminds me of -what once happened to me. It was when I was wearing a single curl in -the middle of my forehead. One day Frank was there, and he—he would -twist it over his finger and quote poetry about it until he took all -the curl out of it. Of course I discovered that I had no handkerchief -and went up to get one.” - -“I don’t see anything so awful in that,” said the girl with the classic -profile. - -“No, dear; but while I was curling it I dropped the hot iron down my -back, and dared not even scream lest he find out what I was doing.” - -“The worst thing that ever happened to me,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin, “was in connection with Lewis. As soon as it was -settled, I went to tell Emmeline, so she would give up trying to get -him. I said I was his first love, and she couldn’t imagine how jealous -he was. ‘Oh, yes, dear, I can,’ said she; ‘he was always so when he was -engaged to me!’” - -“I wondered why you broke with him,” said the president. “Well, we must -adjourn now, and I must say that I have never heard a subject more -logically discussed than the one to-day!” - - - - -Chapter IV - -Concerning the Heroine of To-day - - -“Are you ready to go to the meeting of the club?” asked the blue-eyed -girl, as she bounced into the room. “Why, Dorothy, dear, what is the -matter? has your father gotten himself a new bicycle instead of one for -you, or—” - -The blue-eyed girl sat up on the couch. “I don’t care if I never ride a -bicycle again as long as I live,” she replied, deliberately. - -The girl with the dimple in her chin turned pale. “I knew it was -something awful when I saw you crying with the blinds all rolled up; -but I hardly thought it was so bad as that. You—you haven’t any fever -or queer feelings in your head, have you?” - -“If I had, it would not make any difference,” she sobbed. “I—oh, I’ll -get even with Effie Bittersweet if it ruins my complexion and takes me -all the rest of my natural life to do it!” - -“Oho, it’s Effie, is it? Well, you’ll have plenty of chances to get -even with her, once you are her sister-in-law!” - -“I wouldn’t marry Jack now, to—to spite Effie, and I—I doubt if I shall -have the chance, anyhow. And as for Frances, I—” - -“Never mind, dear; I know she has behaved abominably, but she is -punished already. Her aunt has brought her a new hat from Paris, and it -is geranium pink—fancy Frances in geranium, can you? She promised it to -Frances when she went abroad last fall, and Frances has been talking -about it ever since. She will have to wear it, too, because her aunt is -to make them a long visit, and she is too wealthy to have her feelings -hurt.” - -The blue-eyed girl shook her head, sadly. “It is very kind of you to -try to cheer me,” she said, “but I am beyond rejoicing. I only hope it -is a very deep geranium pink, that’s all. Oh, Emily, what a desert -waste this life is! No, don’t put another cushion back of me—I want -to be just as uncomfortable as possible. You know Effie was here this -morning, don’t you?” - -“I suppose so—I noticed that you have two portraits of Edwin on the -table.” - -“Yes. Well, she asked me to go shopping with her, and I must say I was -pleased, because she hasn’t been here since—since—” - -“Not since you quar—pardon me, I mean since her brother quarreled with -you.” - -“She said she’d ask me to lunch with her down-town, but she had spent -almost all her allowance.” - -“The idea of hinting to you in that bare-faced way! Now, if you had -been a man it—” - -“Would have been all right, of course. However, I know how confidential -Effie always grows over a cup of tea, so I promptly invited her to -lunch with me. After she had accepted, I found that I had only fifty -cents to my name. Papa had gone down-town and, mamma had just borrowed -a quarter from me!” - -“My goodness, did you tell Effie that your head ached so badly that you -couldn’t go?” - -“And have her say that I was fretting myself ill over Jack? No, thank -you. I excused myself a moment and went downstairs, for I had just -remembered a habit Papa has of leaving money lying about on his desk. -To my joy, I found a five-dollar bill in one of the drawers, and I took -that, because I—” - -“But weren’t you afraid to take it?” - -“M—yes, but then one’s own people have to make up with one sometime or -other. Well, we had a lovely time shopping, and I took Effie off to -luncheon before she had had time to get cross matching samples. It was -a lovely luncheon, and before we had finished Effie said she hoped I -would visit her at Delavan in August!” - -“H’m; I suppose she didn’t mention the fact that Jack expects to be in -Canada from the last week in July to the first one in September, did -she?” - -“No; she didn’t. Oh, what a cat she is—and I asked her to take another -ice on the strength of it! Well I paid the bill, tipped the waiter, -and was just going out when the cashier came running after me, and oh, -Emily, what do you think?” - -“You had left your umbrella, of course.” - -“No, I hadn’t. I—I, that five-dollar bill was a counterfeit which papa -was keeping as an object lesson to mamma, who had gotten it in change!” - -“You might have known that no man with a wife and grown daughter would -leave five good dollars in an unlocked drawer, dear. Did Effie—” - -“Loan it to me? She hadn’t quite enough, and I don’t know what I should -have done if Frances had not happened to come in. Effie said that she -did not mind borrowing from Frances, because she—she was quite like a -sister to her! And now I shall have to make Papa angry by coaxing for -money to pay for all those ices Effie ate on false pretenses, and -w—worse yet, she and Frances will have the pleasure of laughing over it -together!” - -“And telling Jack about it, too,” gasped the girl with the dimple in -her chin, helplessly. - -“Of course I know they will do that,” sobbed the victim. “But I hardly -thought that even an intimate friend would be unpleasant enough to -remind me of it!” And she buried her face in the cushions and wept. - -“Then you are not going to the club this afternoon? Shall I tell them -that you are busy with the dressmaker, or the dentist? They know that -you can make everybody else wait.” - -“Tell them nothing. I shall go—and complain of a cold in the head, -which will explain the pinkness of my nose and eyes.” - -“But will any of them believe you?” - -“All of them. You know those horrid quinine tablets Evelyn is always -wanting people to try—well, I shall take one of them publicly. You -don’t suppose that any one will suspect me of doing it unnecessarily, -do you?” - -The girl with the dimple in her chin shuddered. “Impossible,” she said. - -The blue-eyed girl suddenly stopped curling her hair, and, facing her -friend, remarked: “I can tell you one thing though—Jack Bittersweet -shall pay dearly for this!” - - * * * * * - -The president of the Teacup club rapped for order with the handle -of her umbrella. “I am glad to see you all here to-day, in spite of -the weather,” she remarked. “We have a very interesting topic for -discussion. It is, ‘Woman in Her Character of Heroine.’” - -“Indeed, it is interesting,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “I only -wish you had thought to mention it to me and I should have prepared -a paper on it. No, I couldn’t have done it, either, for my aunt from -New Jersey was in town, and I had to take her sight-seeing. Oh, dear, -aren’t people who live in the country painfully active? And what ideas -they have! They seem to think Lincoln Park is in the back yard and the -Statue of Columbus across the street.” - -“I know a girl who has had a much worse time than that,” said the -brown-eyed blonde. “She had to take her future mother-in-law to see -the sights. The old lady had read up in preparation for her visit, and -knew more about the city than Marie herself. Now, while the poor girl -is being massaged with arnica and things to get over the effects of her -exertion, the old lady is busy telling her son that such an ignorant -girl can never make a good wife!” - -“Speaking of the bravery of women,” said the girl with the classic -profile, “I know a girl who early one morning heard a noise in a large -closet next her room, in which she kept her furs and cloth gowns. She -slipped out of bed and into the hall, and turned the key, which was -fortunately on the outside, and there she had the burglar safe in that -stifling atmosphere. Then she fainted.” - -“And no wonder,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “I should have -fainted first.” - -“It took them three-quarters of an hour to restore her and find out -what was the matter, then they sent for the police, and what do you -think they found?” - -“That the burglar was dead,” breathed the girl with the Roman nose. - -“No. It wasn’t a burglar at all; it was her own father, who had risen -early and gone into the closet to look for a file of papers which -had been kept in the attic for twenty years. Oh, he said perfectly -awful things when he got breath enough to speak! Unluckily, too, it -happened just at the time when she needed a lot of new things. She said -that nobody appreciated her bravery except a man who was paying her -attention at the time, and he didn’t dare say a word before her father -for fear of losing his good-will.” - -“Humph!” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “it only goes to -show that women are really more courageous than men.” - -“Of course they are,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “Why, only the -other day I read of a girl who had a hole bored in one of her front -teeth and a diamond inserted. Did you ever hear of a man who was brave -enough to go to the dentist unless he really had to?” - -“No,” said the president. “Oh, girls, I once had my pocketbook snatched -from me by a boy, and I just ran after him until he dropped it. I don’t -know that I should have been so brave,” she added, “but for the fact -that, beside my card, it contained several unpaid bills of which my -husband knew nothing. If the police had caught the boy with it, they -would have communicated the fact to him, and I never should have heard -the last of those bills. - -“I hope he appreciated your bravery, anyhow,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. - -“Of course not,” said the president; “his only comment was that it -served me right for carrying my pocketbook in my hand. Oh, you can’t -make a man understand that a woman fears nothing. By the way, I wish -several of you would come home to dinner with me. I broke Tom’s lovely -bit of old Venetian glass to-day, and I had rather not be alone with -him when he finds it out.” - -“I’ll go with pleasure,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “is anybody -else coming?” - -“Nobody but Mr. Troolygood,” said the president. “I always ask him in -such an emergency, because he prophesied that Tom would break my heart -within two years of our marriage. Tom knows that, and—well, I could -dance on the graves of his ancestors if Mr. Troolygood was present, and -Tom would encourage my efforts.” - -“Then, I don’t see why you ask us to-day,” said the girl with the Roman -nose, “he ought to be—” - -“Sufficient? Yes, I suppose so; but—well, the truth is that he is -rather hard to entertain, and Tom is so busy in his presence, being -nice to me, that he is no help at all.” - -“I should be delighted to dine with you, also,” said the blue-eyed -girl, “but really I have such a cold that I don’t dare to be out at all -after nightfall.” - -“Have you a cold?” said the brown-eyed blonde, “why, I didn’t notice it -when I met you in the restaurant this morning.” - -“Didn’t you, dear? But then you are not very observant. You had not -even noticed that there was a wrinkle in the waist of your new gown, -until I pointed it out to you. Evelyn, dear, mightn’t I take another -of your quinine tablets now? I really think that I am feeling better -already.” - -“Do not take too much of it, dear, if you value your peace of mind,” -said the girl with the eyeglasses. “I’ve had such an awful cold this -week. I don’t know how I ever caught it, unless it was sitting in that -hot church on Sunday. Mamma would have me go, and I—” - -“Perhaps you caught it standing on your front steps Monday evening,” -suggested the girl with the classic profile. “I saw you, as I passed, -and wondered how long—” - -“Oh, it was only a moment. The parlor was full of people, and I just -stepped out with Frank a moment to—to ask him how he expects to vote at -the coming election.” - -“I thought you both looked as if you were discussing politics. Of -course, he had to think well on the merits of the opposing candidates -before he gave an opinion and—” - -“Oh, pshaw, it is impossible to know how one catches cold, and it does -one no good to know, anyhow,” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“Unless it is some one else’s fault,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “I have a cold myself, and I don’t dare to mention the fact -to my family. They are so unsympathetic that they—” - -“Would want you to wrap up and wear overshoes if it was July,” said the -president. - -“They would, they would,” wailed the girl with the eyeglasses, “well, I -just knew that I had to be well in time to go to Mrs. Brownsmith’s card -party. The way that Marie tries to attract Frank’s attention is too -dreadful, and I knew she would be there.” - -“If she had to unscrew her coffin lid to get out,” said the blue-eyed -girl. - -“M’hm. They wanted me to take all sorts of horrid remedies at home. -I wouldn’t do it, though; the very idea made me cross. Finally, on -Wednesday, Frank dropped in to see if I was better and said I must -take some quinine. Of course, I couldn’t refuse and hurt his feelings, -especially as he remained all the afternoon and watched me take it. By -his advice, I took a large dose of it that night, and when I woke up in -the morning my cold was almost gone, but oh, I had the queerest buzzing -in my ears!” - -“Oh, well, nobody could see that,” said the president, “so you—” - -“Kept on taking it all day, and was able to go to the card party, after -all; though the quinine had made me as deaf as a statue. It made little -difference at first, because Marie kept close at my elbow, and Frank -and I were not alone a moment. I couldn’t get rid of her at all until, -just as mamma said she would not wait another second Mrs. Brownsmith -called Marie to her, and Frank—” - -“Improved the moment,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “What -did he say?” - -“I—I don’t know,” sobbed the girl with the eyeglasses. “He whispered, -and I couldn’t hear. And before I could ask him to repeat, Marie was -at my side. As he put me into the carriage, he said: ‘You will let me -have my answer by messenger to-morrow, won’t you?’ And I—I don’t know -w-whether he ask-asked me to marry him, or only to go to the m-matinee!” - -“You poor, dear martyr,” cried the president. “Dorothy, dear, you had -better not take any more of those tablets, because—” - -“But dear, Dorothy is in no danger of having to answer such an -important question,” said the brown-eyed blonde, sweetly. - -“Very true, dear; I have answered it already—in the negative,” said the -blue-eyed girl. “Ah, you can never know, Frances, how painful it is to -be obliged to tell a man who loves you that there is no hope.” - -“Dear, dear,” said the president, hurriedly, “I’m afraid that, in spite -of all my efforts, we have not discussed to-day’s topic as consistently -as usual. It does seem to me sometimes that you girls talk as much as -men. Of course you do not expect to be listened to as they do, still—” - -“I should think not,” said the girl with the Roman nose; “did I ever -tell you of the time I went to make a round of calls with Ethel, and—” - -“Found she was leaving her sister’s cards by mistake?” said the girl -with the classic profile. “Indeed you did. And wasn’t it funny that she -left one for Maria, to whom her sister hadn’t spoken for a year? Just -like Ethel, too.” - -“This was another time,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “You know -how much Ethel talks? Well, we called on one woman I had never met -before, and she asked Ethel subsequently if I was not deaf and dumb!” - -“Never mind, she knew better when she met you next time,” said the girl -with the eyeglasses; “but what is the topic for discussion to-day?” - -“‘The Heroine of To-day,’” said the president, “and I think—” - -“I suppose that is the bachelor girl,” said the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Or the one who marries a foreigner,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “Talk about bravery! Why, I knew a girl who became engaged to -a Russian before she could pronounce his name.” - -“Speaking of that,” said the girl with the classic profile, “isn’t it -horrid of Elizabeth to send out her wedding cards so long ahead. No -chance this time to say that we didn’t know it in time to select a -present.” - -“I shall pretend that I never received my invitation at all,” said the -president; “one must protect one’s self somehow.” - -“I do hate to go shopping with her nowadays,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin, “if I don’t buy a lot of things myself I am -miserable, and if I do her reproachful gaze seems to say, ‘I know the -cost of this will come out of my present.’” - -“As if you wouldn’t ask your father for the money for that, anyhow!” -said the girl with the classic profile. - -“I shall do nothing of the kind, dear; it would make too much trouble. -I don’t know why a man will cheerfully give a wedding present himself, -but let—” - -“One of the women of the family ask for money for the same purpose and -he feels that he is being robbed,” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“I suppose it is on the same principle that makes a man insist upon -treating every other man he meets and then grumble because his wife -wants oysters after the play,” said the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Just as he feeds a girl on candy before he marries her and then -complains of dentists’ bills afterward,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin; “men are so illogical!” - -“Indeed they are,” said the girl with the Roman nose; “one of them will -keep on telling a girl that she has a swan-like carriage, and then -think her vain if he catches her watching her own movements in the -glass.” - -“Why does she let him catch her at it?” queried the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “Oh, girls, you know that awful, dark green necktie -that Dick has been wearing! Well, I endured it until I felt as if I -should scream if I saw him wear it again, so I begged it from him; told -him that I wanted it as a souvenir to hang beside his college cap and -his football colors. As soon as he sent it to me I threw it into the -fire.” - -“And he came in before it was reduced to ashes?” asked the president, -in sympathetic tones. - -“No. He appeared with another just like it, the very next day—said he -didn’t like it himself, but since I had admired it and he wanted to -please me, he had matched it before he sent it to me!” - -“And that was your only reward for trying to save his feelings,” sighed -the blue-eyed girl. “Really, Emily, I often think you are too good for -this world.” - -“At any rate, I shall soon be out of it if so many sorrows are heaped -upon my head. By the way, girls, I’ve been learning to ride my bicycle, -and talking of heroism, I—” - -“How many times have you fallen?” exclaimed the girl with the classic -profile. “I heard the other day of a girl who learned to ride in a -single lesson, without falling once, and—” - -“Humph. I’ve often heard of that girl myself—but I’ve never seen her. -I’ve fallen nineteen times; that is, not counting the time mamma called -after me to be careful, and the time that Dick said I had ridden almost -a half block since he let go of my belt—because you know, it was not my -fault that I fell upon either of those occasions!” - -“Of course not,” said the president, “but, girls, we really must not -talk about bicycling, because if we do we shall drift away from our -discussion, and I can’t bear to depart, even momentarily, from the high -standard of the club. We were speaking of Elizabeth a moment ago; has -any one seen her lately?” - -“Not I,” said the blue-eyed girl. “I make a point of avoiding the girl -who is about to be married, the mother of the cleverest baby in the -world, and the woman who is designing her own house. Really, you know, -I don’t mind letting someone else do all the talking, but I _do_ like a -change of topic once in a while.” - -“I know I was just as sensible as any one could be while Tom and I were -engaged,” said the president, “and yet, people did act so oddly. Why, -they would go right away if I began to talk of him at all; they didn’t -even stay long enough to see how sensible I was.” - -“By the way, I believe that Jane and Mr. Sooter are engaged,” said the -girl with the classic profile; “Jane denies it but—” - -“Then I think you are mistaken,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “I -know Jane, and she seldom understates a case. Why do you think they are -engaged?” - -“He has given up sending her flowers and candy, and begun presenting -bric-a-brac instead.” - -“Pshaw, that is nothing; he may once have been engaged to a girl who -was a china maniac, and these may be the presents she returned.” - -“Possibly. By the way, Kate has grown so wary now that she only gives -the man to whom she happens to be engaged presents which she can use -after she breaks with him; never pipes and—” - -“Oh, by the way, I know how her last engagement came to be broken in -so many pieces that it could never be mended,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin. - -“Do tell us all about it; we are all so intimate with Kate that we -wouldn’t dare to tell anybody, because it would seem that we were -betraying a confidence,” said the girl with the classic profile. - -“Well, when she was engaged to Mr. Yaleblue, she gave him a lovely -meerchaum pipe, which of course came back with her other presents when -the engagement was broken. By the next Christmas she was engaged to -Dan, and it seemed such a waste to let it lie in the case, and she gave -it to him, telling him a pretty little story of how she bought it -when she was in Paris, and kept it hanging in her den ready for Prince -Charming when he appeared. You wouldn’t think a little thing like that -would have broken the engagement, would you?” - -“Why, of course not,” said the girl with the eyeglasses, “how on earth -did—” - -“Oh, he just asked how it came that it was so strong of tobacco!” - -“Dear me, girls,” said the president, “I am afraid that we really must -adjourn, though there is still a great deal more to say on both sides -of the discussion. But I have just remembered that I have invited a -whole party of you to dinner, and neglected to mention the fact to the -cook!” - - - - -Chapter V - -The Club Settles Some Currency Problems - - -“The topic for to-day’s discussion will be ‘Currency Problems of the -Present Day,’” observed the president, after the club had come to -order, “and I hope you are all prepared—” - -“There is only one currency problem in the present day—to my knowledge, -at least,” broke in the girl with the classic profile, “and that is: -how to make two dollars do the work of ten.” - -“Dear me, there is something actually masculine in your flippancy,” -said the president, with ferocious gentleness. “The question before us -is one of the deepest gravity, and—” - -“Nobody knows that better than myself,” said the girl with the classic -profile, “don’t I lie awake night after night, wondering how to get my -new things out of the money my father has allowed me for the purpose, -or, better yet, how to coax more out of him without letting him realize -the fact.” - -“Don’t talk about money, please; it makes me blue,” wailed the girl -with the dimple in her chin. “What with never having enough for myself -and constantly seeing other people with more than I like them to have, -I—” - -“What I want to know is—and you ought to be able to tell me, girls—why -a woman who looks all sweetness and gentleness should suddenly develop -into a raging lioness, just because her own son wants to marry some -nice girl,” sighed the girl with the eyeglasses, waking suddenly out of -a reverie. - -“Humph,” returned the blue-eyed girl, “there are some things I don’t -quite understand myself—such as the banking system, and the reason why -your dressmaker tells you calmly that she must have two yards and a -half more of your dress material, when you have plainly informed her -that you bought a remnant. But as for your question, it is so simple -that a man could answer it. No woman ever did, or ever will, like to -play second fiddle to another one, and—” - -“Oh, nonsense,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “it is just a -question of tact. Let a man make his mother believe that she has chosen -his wife and she—” - -“Yes, and wouldn’t it be pleasant to have your mother-in-law tell you, -every time she wanted you to discharge the cook or do without a new -gown, that her son would never have married you but for her!” cried the -girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“Speaking of mothers-in-law,” said the girl with the classic profile, -“Nell is to have a new woman in that capacity. I found her crying the -other day because she had heard that Madame considered her too domestic -to make her son a good wife!” - -“Yes, I know,” said the blue-eyed girl, “and did you hear of Alice’s -woes? No? Well, you know, she and Morton fell in love at first sight, -and became engaged two weeks later. After the engagement was announced, -she was invited to visit his people in Iowa, and went in fear and -trembling, for she did not know much about them, and Morton could not -be there at the time.” - -“Hadn’t the courage, you mean,” murmured the girl with the dimple in -her chin. - -“Very likely, dear. Well, his mother was as bad as Alice had feared. -Her ideas were all in direct opposition to Morton’s, and the poor girl -almost fretted herself into nervous prostration trying to please them -both. After all, when she got home, she found—” - -“That she had been mistaken in her feelings for Morton, and it didn’t -make any difference whether they were pleased or not!” said the girl -with the eyeglasses. “I knew how it would end when you began.” - -“No. She discovered that Madame was only his stepmother, after all! -Imagine trying to please a mother-in-law and a stepmother combined!” - -“I’d rather not fancy it,” said the president, with a shudder. “Girls, -I only hope you will be as lucky when you are married as I am, for—” - -“You aren’t going to tell us all of Tom’s virtues again, are you?” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin, uneasily. - -“When my mother-in-law becomes unpleasant, I just ask her to go with -me to spend the day with Tom’s grandmother,” went on the president, -affecting not to hear the last remark, “she doesn’t dare to refuse, -because the old lady has some china which we both want, and she’s -afraid I may succeed in wheedling it out of her! It is great fun to -hear my own mother-in-law lectured by _her_ mother-in-law on the sins -which the former thinks I have appropriated entirely to my own use.” - -“But, ah—doesn’t Tom’s mother take it out of you on the way back?” -queried the blue-eyed girl. - -“No, dear. You see, I am careful not to sit with her in the train, and -Tom always meets us at the station; besides, she’s hardly in her usual -form, and I could be a match for her,” she added, modestly. - -“Oh, girls,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “speaking of mothers-in-law -makes me think of wedding presents. Did you—oh, did you hear about the -plates I gave Elizabeth?” - -“Yes, I did,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “and a girl -who gives away old Crown Derby like that is either an angel, or not -quite sane—I don’t know which!” - -“Say anything you like; I haven’t the spirit to reply. And after you’ve -heard the story—well, it was this way: I ran across the dozen of them -in a little second-hand shop, and the proprietor didn’t seem to know -their value and asked a very moderate price.” - -“I beg your pardon, dear,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, -“I take back all that I said before!” - -“You needn’t. I saw that I could beat him down, so I didn’t take them -then, but went in a day or two later, taking Elizabeth along to make -sure they were genuine. Really, she does know something about china, -though—” - -“She doesn’t know anything else,” finished the president. “Well, they -were genuine, weren’t they?” - -“They were, Elizabeth became so affectionate on the spot that I saw she -knew what I wanted them for. I didn’t take them then, but went back the -next day to find that the man had raised his price; he said another -person wanted them—as if I’d believe that. Well, it went on for a week, -until the price demanded was so outrageous that I should never have -paid it, but for the fact that Elizabeth had told everybody what lovely -Crown Derby plates she was to have, and I wasn’t going to have her say -that I couldn’t afford them!” - -“I should think not,” said the girl with the eyeglasses; “besides, -it is necessary to give Elizabeth a handsome present, since she is -marrying a wealthy man.” - -“Of course; if he was poor, a very simple thing would—ah, be in better -taste, so that the contrast would not be so great.” - -“M’hm. Well, I bought the plates, and took them to her myself, because -I wanted to see her face when she opened the package.” - -“But she wasn’t surprised, was she?” asked the blue-eyed girl. - -“Yes, she was. She—well, she was the other person who wanted to buy -them, and whose inquiries had trebled the price I had to pay for them!” - -“In the face of a tragedy like that, it seems hopeless to offer -consolation,” said the girl with the classic profile. “Still, Elizabeth -will be obliged to give you a handsome present when you are married.” - -“Let us hope that she will not have had time to forget her -obligations,” said the blue-eyed girl, sweetly. “Of course, she has a -good memory, but—” - -“I only hope somebody will give her two chafing-dishes,” broke in the -president. “I only have one, and if I was not the sweetest tempered -mortal in the world Tom and I would quarrel seriously over it. Perhaps, -I ought not to speak of myself in that way, but—” - -“You surely ought to know your good points better than anybody else -does,” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“Very true, dear. You see, Tom thinks he is a chafing-dish cook, -and really he _can_ cook; but the last time he made a rarebit my -waitress gave warning, because of the state in which she found the -dining-room—which was very mean of her, because we had waited on -ourselves to save trouble.” - -“Partly for that, and partly because you wanted to talk about Coralie, -and her sister is her cook, I remember—I was there,” said the blue-eyed -girl. - -“Yes, but she didn’t know that we wanted to talk about Coralie, and I -told her that it was to save her trouble.” - -“Wasn’t that the time that the rarebit made you ill, and the doctor -couldn’t come because he, too, had eaten some of it?” asked the girl -with the dimple in her chin. - -“It was. I told Tom, then, that he must leave out either the doctor or -me when he made rarebit again!” - -“With the result?” queried the girl with the classic profile. - -“That we didn’t speak for three days, dear. It was during that time, -that I went to Annie’s chafing-dish party. She wanted me to make a -cheese omelette, and I sent over for the dish. My messenger found Tom -in the dining-room with a whole party of men—” - -“Cooking on your chafing-dish?” - -“No. Trying to entertain them while the new waitress hunted for it.” - -“But, where was it? You hadn’t taken it?” - -“No, dear. The cook had borrowed it for a chafing-dish party of her -own, and neglected to mention the fact to either Tom or me!” - -“Then, I suppose really that each family should possess two -chafing-dishes,” said the brown-eyed blonde, thoughtfully. - -“Yes—or none at all,” said the president, sighing. - -“Of course I am very much interested in this discussion,” said the girl -with the Roman nose; “but I wonder if a thorough knowledge of currency -problems will do us any practical good. None of us are earning our own -living, and when papa talks about currency problems at home it is only -to point the moral that times are hard, so—” - -“There is where your knowledge will be most useful,” broke in the girl -with the dimple in her chin; “you can bring it out to prove that times -are _not_ hard, and run off a lot of statistics to prove your point.” - -“But I don’t know any statistics,” wailed the girl with the Roman nose. - -“I’m afraid you have not been paying strict attention to-day,” said -the president, gravely. “However, if you are in danger of losing in -an argument, be sure to say, with a smile of superiority, ‘I suppose -you know what the statistics are?’ Now, people are not in the habit -of carrying statistics around, like cough-drops, and they will simply -give up the battle on the spot. If they don’t, rattle off a lot of -figures; they can’t refute them immediately, and if they attempt to do -it afterward, you can just say, in a supercilious tone, ‘I thought we -settled that matter yesterday.’” - -“Well, I declare,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “that is just my -own father’s line of argument, and yet it never occurred to me that -I could imitate it. I do hope you will take very good care of your -health, Evelyn,” she added. “People who are very intellectual are _so_ -apt to die young.” - -“I shall,” said the president. “I’ve no notion of dying and having Tom -a widower while he is still young enough to be attractive. It would not -make so much difference after that, for I shall take care that he does -not accumulate enough money to make him fascinating at seventy-five!” - -“Dear, dear,” sighed the blue-eyed girl, “I wonder why so few men have -money until their hair is only a memory!” - -“Case of the wind being tempered to the shorn lamb,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin; “after all, a man must sacrifice something on -the altar of success.” - -“Humph; isn’t it usually his wife?” said the girl with the classic -profile. - -“Not if she is clever,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “Girls, -I once knew a woman whose husband made a fortune in two years, and -he wouldn’t give her more than the merest pittance for dress and -entertaining. In fact, the only bills he would pay, without grumbling, -were those of the doctor. And what do you think she did? She selected -the doctor whose bills were the most outrageous, and settled herself to -be a chronic invalid. She said she was determined to get something out -of her husband’s fortune.” - -“Good,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin; “I do hope she -really enjoyed herself after that.” - -“I’m afraid not. You see, the doctor seemed anxious to earn his money, -and insisted that she had some desperate disease. I doubt if she really -enjoyed his subsequent visits.” - -“All her husband’s fault, too,” sighed the brown-eyed blonde, “and yet, -I doubt if she reproached him for it. It seems to be a woman’s province -to suffer in silence.” - -“Yes, I’ve often heard my mother make that very remark to my father,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “I had rather not quote his -reply. Girls, I heard the funniest story yesterday; Annie wouldn’t tell -me who was the heroine of it, really, sometimes she is as provoking as -a man. I’ll be even with her, however, for I’ll never rest until I find -out who it was, then I shall tell everybody, and Annie will never be -able to convince her that she didn’t tell the whole. It seems that this -girl had quarreled with the man to whom she was engaged, and a week -later she received a letter addressed in his handwriting. She did think -of taking it to a mind reader, but it was near the end of the month, -and she hadn’t the money, so—” - -“By the way, Emily, dear, when can you come to lunch with me?” broke in -the girl with the eyeglasses. “I don’t see half as much of you as I’d -like to, and—” - -“Any day you like, dear. Where was I? Oh! She hadn’t the money, and the -tea kettle happened to be handy, so she—” - -“But, why not open it with a hair-pin, like any other letter?” asked -the blue-eyed girl. - -“She wanted to return it unopened if she didn’t like its contents. It -proved to be perfectly horrid; he not only didn’t acknowledge that he -was in the wrong, but he actually brought forward facts to prove that -she was! Of course, no girl would endure that, so—” - -“Do you mean to say that Annie told you that?” asked the girl with the -eyeglasses. “I didn’t think it possible that any girl—” - -“Oh, I don’t see any harm in that; of course every girl wants her own -way. Well, she sealed up the letter again, wrote on it, ‘Returned -unopened’ and sent it back.” - -“H’m,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “I was thinking that might -have been Clarissa, but she is too intellectual to do anything so -clever. Anyhow, I’m glad she got the better of him.” - -“But she didn’t, dear. She discovered, after the messenger had been -gone an hour, that she had sealed up the envelope without replacing the -letter in it! Can any of you guess who it was that—” - -“Not I,” said the blue-eyed girl, “but if I had done such a thing, I -should never have trusted Annie with it. Why, are you going, dear?” - -“I’m going over to Annie’s this very minute,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. “I—I have something to say to her that will touch even -_her_ hardened conscience!” - -“So it was Marion, after all,” mused the girl with the dimple in her -chin, after the door had closed behind her friend; “well, at any rate, -after this Annie will tell me the whole of a story when she begins it.” - -“I must say, though, that if I was in her place it would be a long time -before I began one,” said the brown-eyed blonde. - -“So you, too, have been confiding in Annie?” said the blue-eyed girl, -sweetly. “By the way, I am to stay over night with her, but I promise -you that whatever she may repeat will be safe with me.” - -“While we are discussing currency problems, I want to say what a -nuisance the check system is,” said the girl with the classic profile. -“I always did hate to get my money in that way, and I had an experience -the other day which surely ought to cure my father of giving them to -me.” - -“Mercy, you weren’t suspected of being a forger, were you?” asked the -president, turning pale. - -“N—no, I believe not, but—it happened that my father gave me a check -when I was going shopping, and I found before I cashed it that I must -have five dollars more. Father had gone to Indianapolis, and mother, -well—the fact is, that she will not loan me money any more, because -I sometimes forget to return it. I didn’t know what to do until I -suddenly remembered that Ned Goldie was the person who had to cash the -check for me at the bank; then I knew I was safe. Pshaw, it just shows -that you can never depend on a man!” - -“He surely did not refuse to cash it?” asked the president. - -“N—no, but he—girls, I’ll tell you just what I did. I said, ‘By the -way, Mr. Goldie, just give me five dollars more, will you? Father can -make it right next time he comes in.’ And, if you will credit the fact, -he actually said he couldn’t do it. A man with whom I had danced the -german the evening before!” - -“I never believed Ned Goldie would be so stingy,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin. “What excuse did he make?” - -“Said it was against the rules of the bank, but he would be delighted -to _lend_ me the extra five dollars. Did you ever hear of such -impertinence in your life? As soon as my father comes home, I shall -tell him that he must transfer his account to another bank, for after -this I feel that Mr. Goldie is not a person to be trusted with money!” - -“Dear, dear,” said the president, gravely, “that is very bad. Don’t -mention it outside of the club, girls; for if the bank directors found -that he was being rude to the daughter of one of their customers he -would lose his position at once. And there may be some apology or -explanation he can make to your father, too, dear; though I confess I -don’t see what it can be. Well, girls, I’m afraid we must adjourn, and -I must say frankly that I am pleased with the work we have done to-day. -The only reason that I suggested such a weighty topic for discussion -was, that Tom had declared that the club was unable to grapple with it. -After that, of course the only thing possible was to show him that he -was wrong.” - -“Which you can now do conclusively,” said the girl with the Roman nose, -“and I am quite sure he will be surprised at the novelty of some of the -arguments advanced this afternoon!” - -“What is it, dear?” asked the girl with the dimple in her chin, as she -and the blue-eyed girl turned the corner. “You have been so bright and -cheerful to-day, that I am sure something is seriously wrong.” - -“Indeed there is. Jack has behaved abominably! It was enough when he -told Effie that Frances is the most amiable girl he ever knew; but—” - -“That proves conclusively that he is not engaged to her, dear. No man -ever knows anything about a girl’s temper until he _is_ engaged to her.” - -“Oh, if you want to defend him, I shall say no more; but I did think—” - -“But, I don’t want to defend him. I only—” - -“Then, all I’ve got to say, Emily Marshmallow, is that you are -prejudiced against the poor fellow. I might have known that from -the start. I only wish I had not taken your advice and broken my -engagement.” - -“But, you didn’t do it on my advice,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin; “it was all done before you said a word to me about it.” - -“Well, anyhow, I knew you would advise me to do it; and now you are -not satisfied with what I’ve done. But go on, don’t spare me—I am too -miserable to care to defend myself! I—I don’t believe I shall live very -long, anyhow. I shall tell them to give you my marquise ring, as a -token of forgiveness, when I’m gone. I hope you will remember me when -you look at it—and be sure to notice if the stones are quite secure in -their setting.” - -“I w—will; I promise you,” sobbed the girl with the dimple in her chin; -“but don’t you think a trip—well a trip to Old Point Comfort might save -your life. They tell me it is very gay there now!” - -The blue-eyed girl shook her head. “Nothing can save me now, dear; why -I can hook all my gowns now without holding my breath, and yesterday I -ate no luncheon at all—took nothing between breakfast and dinner but a -couple of cream sodas, a box of caramels, and a cup or two of afternoon -tea. You know nobody can live long at that rate. Well, I am sorry for -Jack Bittersweet when I am gone; a lifetime of remorse and—and Frances -is not a pleasant thing to look forward to!” - -“You haven’t told me yet about Jack, dear, so—” - -“True; and some one should know the true story when I am no more. Here -is the place where they make such nice chocolate; let us stop in and -drink a cup while I tell you. You take the chair facing the mirror, -dear,” she said, as they selected a table, “my personal appearance is -no longer a matter of importance to me.” - -“You said that Jack—” - -“Has behaved abominably. It is a long story, but I—I shall probably -never tell you another long story, so you can afford to listen to this -one. You know the little beggar boy with the beautiful brown eyes that -I told you about a week or two ago?” - -“Yes; but about Jack. I—” - -“This is about Jack. I told you how I sympathized with that boy’s sad -story, and went with him to investigate it, didn’t I?” - -“Yes, but you never told me whether his home was—” - -“I didn’t get there. He led me through the most awful slums, telling -me all the time how his father would beat him, when he failed to bring -money home, and how he knew I was the beautiful lady he had dreamed -of, as soon as he saw me.” - -“Well? Go on, dear.” - -“Oh, nothing; only the horrid little wretch suddenly dived down an -alley and disappeared; and, oh, Emily, I—I believe he made a face at me -as he went! Worse yet, when I felt for my pocketbook it was gone, and I -had to walk all the way home!” - -“Oh, my goodness, had he taken it?” - -“I surely had not given it to him. I had almost forgotten the affair, -when the cook came up yesterday to tell me that he was in the kitchen, -and had brought my pocketbook back, with a long story about having seen -another boy take it. Said he had followed him, when he left me, and -taken it away from him, in turn.” - -“Well, I declare; and there was all your money intact after you had -doubted his honesty!” - -“Not a cent of it, dear; and the cook said he was wearing a nice new -suit. I told her she had better go back to the kitchen, and count the -spoons, and I called loudly after her, ‘Tell him I never want to see -his deceitful face again!’ The housemaid had come to the door of my -room, too, and was trying to put in a word, but I wouldn’t listen to -her.” - -“Trying to excuse the little wretch; the idea!” - -“That was what I thought. But, oh, Emily, just then the front door -closed with a bang which shook the house to its foundations, and then I -noticed for the first time that the housemaid was trying to give me a -card!” - -“Good gracious, Dorothy, you never mean to say—” - -“That it was Jack’s! Indeed I do. He had heard me scream over the -bannister ‘Tell him to go away; I never want to see his deceitful face -again.’ And he—he must have thought I meant it for him. Oh, Emily, was -there ever such a miserable girl as I!” - - - - -Chapter VI - -The Pioneer New Woman - - -“I think the topic for to-day’s discussion should be ‘The Pioneer New -Woman,’” observed the president of the Teacup Club. “Have you all got -that down in your note-books? You don’t know how it pleases me to see -your methodical ways; it shows the real intellectual advancement of our -club. Why, for my part, I have gained so much that I am not afraid to -discuss any subject with any one.” - -“We have advanced,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “I feel it, too. By -the way, has any one seen my note-book? I haven’t had it for three -weeks—are you sure that none of you have gotten it by mistake? I forgot -to put my name in it, and—” - -“I know where it is,” said the girl with the classic profile. “You -loaned it to Kate—she told me so herself,—in order that she might read -up on some of the topics we have already discussed, and so qualify for -admission to the club.” - -“I shall blackball her, for my part,” spoke up the girl with the dimple -in her chin. “She is so frivolous that she would drag down our high -standard. Besides, she once left me out when she gave a luncheon, and -told people that it was because she had all the decorations in yellow, -and feared they would not shade with my complexion.” - -“Oh, well, Kate is color blind, any way,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. - -“Yes, and she is a little deaf, too,” remarked the president, “and -really does not know just how sharp her own speeches sound.” - -“Perhaps not,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “but I shall -blackball her just the same. By the way, Alice is giving a birthday -dinner party next week—twenty-six covers, one for each year. Clever -idea, isn’t it?” - -“For whose birthday?” asked the girl with the classic profile. “Her -own? Ah, really, I knew she was forgetful, but this is carrying it too -far.” - -“I wonder why otherwise sensible people will tell such stories about -their ages,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“I’m sure I don’t know,” said the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Neither do I,” said the girl with the classic profile. - -“Of course, it doesn’t matter who knows my age, as yet,” said the -brown-eyed blonde. - -“Nor mine,” remarked the girl with the classic profile. - -“Nor mine, either,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“No, indeed,” said the brown-eyed blonde; “I got twenty-two birthday -gifts the other day on my twenty-second birthday.” - -“Are you twenty-two? Why, so am I!” cried the girl with the classic -profile. - -“Just my own age, too,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“And mine; how odd!” cried the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“That is one of the advantages of the new womanhood,” said the -president; “its beautiful candor. Now, I tell everybody that I am -twenty-two years old.” - -“I wish you would tell Mrs. Van Tompkins,” said the girl with the -classic profile. “She wouldn’t take my word for it the other day, -though I told her that I couldn’t be mistaken, as you had told me so at -least six times in the last eighteen months.” - -“Cora asked me the other day if there was any age qualification for -membership in this club,” remarked the girl with the eyeglasses, during -the slight pause which followed the last speech. “She says she has not -yet celebrated her twenty-first birthday.” - -“Born on the 29th of February, then, wasn’t she?” asked the brown-eyed -blonde. “Yes, it is true that the new womanhood is breaking down old -traditions. We are not at all jealous of each other now.” - -“Of course not,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin; “we have -learned to value our own attractions properly. Why, the other day I -stopped Amy and Fred to tell her there was a dab of powder on her -nose. Formerly another girl would have been jealous of her dazzling -complexion, and let her go on as she was.” - -“How sweet of you,” murmured the girl with the eyeglasses; “and yet, I -doubt if she was really grateful.” - -“That was not the question, dear; I—” - -“Oh, dear,” broke in the president, “if my watch is right it is time to -adjourn, and yet. Why, here is Elise! What has made you late to-day?” - -“A discussion with a stupid man,” cried the girl with the Roman nose. -“Only think, he actually said that no woman was mathematician enough -to count up her own birthdays correctly. I was so enraged—why, he said -that ‘I am twenty-two’ is the same thing to a girl as ‘Polly wants a -cracker’ is to a parrot, or the Spanish fandango to a guitar player—but -what on earth is wrong? You all look so queer.” - -“It’s nothing at all, dear,” said the blue-eyed girl. “We were just -looking at your new hat, that is all. I think your watch must have -stopped, Evelyn dear, for mine is only—” - -“Perhaps it has,” said the president. “Tom talks so much, sometimes, -that I quite forget to wind it.” - -“Oh, well, it needs a rest sometimes,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “I know that mine—” - -“Oh, dear!” said the president, “I know I am a fright to-day, and -nothing but a sense of duty has brought me here. Why, I actually have -not had a chance to curl my hair properly for six days, and—” - -“Been getting ready your new gown, have you?” said the girl with the -classic profile. “I only wish I had mine off my mind.” - -“It wasn’t my new gown,” said the president. “It was Tom. He has had -a heavy cold, and the house smells so strong of camphor that there -will not be a moth within a block of it this year. I don’t mind being -bidden a tragic farewell at mid-day, but I do mind being waked up at -midnight for that purpose.” - -“But it was nothing serious, was it?” asked the brown-eyed blonde. “I -thought the other day, when he came to the top of the stairs and called -to you that he was dying, that a man who was breathing his last would -manage to do it with less noise.” - -“Oh, pshaw!” said the president. “That was nothing to the time he waked -me up at one o’clock in the morning to tell me that he was dying, but -if I let that mug-faced young preacher who used to come to see me, -officiate at his funeral he would come back and haunt me. It took a -hot-water bottle, a mustard plaster, two hot toddies, and the camphor -to quiet him that time.” - -“Humph!” said the girl with the dimple in her chin; “I wonder why a man -always thinks a cold or a boil fatal—when he has it?” - -“Perhaps he doesn’t himself,” said the girl with the Roman nose; “but -he always wants the women of the family to act as if they did.” - -“Very true,” said the girl with the eyeglasses; “but do you know what -Dolly does? As soon as her husband complains of being ill she begins to -weep and tear her hair and lament that he will die, she knows he will. -That frightens him, and when she insists upon putting him to bed, and -giving him a bowl of hot ginger tea (which he detests), he pretends -that he was only joking, and flees to the office, when she calls him up -every half-hour to ask how he is. She says he seldom complains of his -health nowadays.” - -“You know my sister Amelia, don’t you?” said the girl with the classic -profile. “Well, her husband had a heavy cold last week. He waked her -up at two o’clock to tell her that he was dying, and that he knew -he had not been a good husband to her, and could not go without her -forgiveness. She wept, and said that he had not been very nice to her, -and had never given her half enough money. Upon this, the dying man sat -up, and began to argue the case. From argument they passed to something -warmer. He went down to the office next day, and hasn’t said a word -about dying since.” - -“I wouldn’t mind Tom thinking he was dying once in awhile,” said the -president, “if he’d only allow me the same privilege occasionally. He -won’t, though; he comes in and says, cheerfully, ‘Oh, you’ll soon be -all right. You should have seen how much worse I was once when I had -it, and never missed a day at the office, either!’ The last time he -did that my throat was too sore for me to reply properly, and I really -thought I should die of rage.” - -“And no wonder,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “As if a -woman couldn’t always stand more than a man, anyhow! For instance, -I wonder how many of them could go out in thin shoes, and without -overshoes, as we do. And yet you never hear a girl say that she has -caught cold in that way.” - -“Never,” said the blue-eyed girl; “we have too much fortitude. My -cousin Edith’s husband used to be always complaining of his health, -until this last winter, I wondered what had caused his miraculous -recovery, until she told me a few days ago. She was away from home, and -received a telegram, saying that she must come at once if she wanted to -see him alive. The message was delayed, being improperly addressed, and -when she reached home, expecting to find him dead, he met her at the -door. It seems that he had called in a new doctor, who was the cause of -his miraculous recovery. He said he would never have another physician -to prescribe for him as long as he lived.” - -“Completely cured, eh?” said the president. - -“Not that time. Next time he was ill, and the new doctor appeared, he -turned out to be an old admirer of Edith’s. Her husband is frightfully -jealous, and Edith’s potential second husband is a very real person to -him. Edith, as nurse, always went out into the hall to talk with the -doctor after his call. She says she is sure that she did not remain -away so _very_ long; but when she came back, after the first visit, her -husband sulked; after the second, he raved; and after the third, he -got up, declaring he’d live, if only to spite them both. And now, the -doctor points to him as an example of his remarkable healing powers,” -she added. - -“Speaking of old sweethearts,” said the president, “what do you think -happened to me the other day? I was calling on Mrs. Vansmith and her -guest, as she had requested. Both of them happened to be out, and, to -my annoyance, I found I had no cards with me. At last I found one of -Tom’s in my card-case, and I left that, knowing that Mrs. Vansmith -would understand.” - -“Well, and didn’t she?” asked the girl with the Roman nose. - -“Perhaps. But the visitors didn’t. It turned out that she used to -be engaged to Tom; while I was in the kindergarten, I suppose. It -seems that his card was handed to her; and you should have seen the -unbelieving smile with which she listened to my explanation of the -matter!” - -“You poor, dear,” said the blue-eyed girl, “you must have been as angry -as if somebody had trodden on your gown. A rather unpleasant thing -happened to Florence the other day, too; Molly was calling on her, -and a note was handed in. She thought it was from Teddy Crœsus, and -pretending that she had ink on her fingers, asked Molly to open it for -her, which she did.” - -“How stupid of Molly; she might have known that it was some trick of -Florence’s,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “Was it a proposal from -Teddy?” - -“It wasn’t from Teddy at all; handwritings are so much alike nowadays. -It was a bill from the hairdresser, of whom Florence had bought those -lovely little curls which cluster around her brow—and Molly read it -aloud, as she had requested.” - -“But who told you about it?” said the girl with the classic profile. - -“Molly. You didn’t suppose it was Florence, did you? I declare, it made -me feel like trying to persuade both of them to join our club. There -isn’t a girl in it that would do such a mean thing, and the example -might—” - -“No, it wouldn’t; they are too frivolous,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. “Oh, girls, I sometimes wish that the men who dance with -us could hear the serious discussions which go on in this club,—so -harmoniously, too.” - -“True,” said the president, “not one unkind word has been spoken, even -of the absent, since we organized. I wonder if as much can be said of -any other club.” - -“I doubt it,” said the blue-eyed girl; “and it isn’t as if we couldn’t -think of clever things to say about people, either.” - -“Of course not,” returned the girl with the Roman nose; “why, I know -some things, even about the other members, which—” - -“So do I,” said the girl with the classic profile. “Why, I heard the -other day that you—” - -“Of course I wouldn’t mention, for the world,” finished the girl with -the Roman nose, in some agitation. - -“I thought not, dear; it would hardly be wise,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses, “for you, especially.” - -“I’m sure, I don’t see why I, es—” - -“Don’t you, dear? But, then, you never were clever,” said the -president. “Yes, I am very proud of the amiability we have all -displayed since joining the club. I must say that I didn’t expect—” - -“I don’t see why not,” said the blue-eyed girl. “As for me, I can get -along with anybody, so I was not at all afraid.” - -“Yes, dear,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “your tongue would be a -protection, even if—” - -“Other people were even _more_ envious of me? That is hardly possible, -dear; but I thank you for your good opinion of me.” - -“Don’t overwhelm me with gratitude, dearest; I really do not deserve -it.” - -“But, luckily for you, love, people seldom get their deserts.” - -“Oh, girls, don’t quarrel,” said the president, wringing her hands; -“I’ve always wanted this to be different from a man’s club, and now—” - -“Really, Evelyn, you seem to be the one who is doing the quarreling,” -said the brown-eyed blonde, tartly. “As for me, I am naturally amiable, -and—” - -“It is not your fault if your temper _is_ a bit soured by repeated -disappointments,” broke in the blue-eyed girl; “of course not. -Everybody says it is no wonder.” - -“I—I resign from this club,” sobbed the brown-eyed blonde. “I’ll not -stay here another minute to be insulted!” - -“Girls, girls,” said the president, “do be reasonable. I—” - -“This is the first time _I_ was ever accused of being unreasonable,” -said the girl with the Roman nose; “and all I’ve got to say is, that I -pity Tom from the bottom of my heart, and—” - -“I don’t doubt but that you’d be glad to comfort him—if I was dead,” -sobbed the president. “If this is all I am to get for keeping you at -peace during the meetings, I’ll just resign, and let you run the club -to suit yourselves. And a p-pretty mess you-you’ll make of it!” And -she retired behind her handkerchief. - -“I’ll resign, too, this very minute,” said the girl with the Roman -nose. “I knew just how it would be when Dorothy asked me to join the -club, but—” - -“You were afraid to refuse, lest something happen, and you didn’t know -all about it,” finished the blue-eyed girl. “Well, I wish to tender -_my_ resignation from the club, to take effect at once.” - -“And so do I,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“And I,” said the girl with the classic profile. - -“I, too,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“W—why, then, there’s nobody left!” exclaimed the blue-eyed girl, -gazing about the room in astonishment. “Oh, w—what will all the men of -our set say when they hear of this!” she wailed. - -“I never thought of that!” said the girl with the Roman nose. “I know -well enough, though, without thinking,” she added. - -“They will say that women never _can_ agree among themselves,” sobbed -the girl with the dimple in her chin, “and they will keep on saying it, -in spite of the fact that it is a baseless libel!” - -“Of—of course, I am not an—angry, only hurt,” sobbed the president. - -“I am not angry at all,” said the blue-eyed girl, “only distressed that -the others—” - -“I’m sure I—I haven’t a hard feeling against any—anybody,” wailed the -girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“Nor I,” said the girl with the classic profile. - -“Mercy, no,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“If anybody is sorry for having hurt my feelings, I am quite ready to -forgive it,” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“And so am I,” said the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Then, I don’t see that any of us need resign,” said the president. -“Does anybody remember the topic under discussion?” - -“‘The Pioneer New Woman,’” said the blue-eyed girl, “and a very -interesting topic it is, I’m sure.” - -“Hear, hear,” said the girl with the Roman nose, as she tucked her -handkerchief into her belt. - -“One thing is always a mystery to me,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin; “why does no female creature ever acknowledge that she is a -new woman until she is quite an old one?” - -“Oh, well, by that time her years will entitle her to a seat in a -street car, even if she wears bloomers,” thoughtfully replied the -president. - -“Who really _was_ the pioneer new woman?” asked the girl with the -classic profile. - -“Eve; although, she did not call herself by that name, I believe,” -returned the blue-eyed girl. “So far as I can see, the new woman is -just like all the rest of us—she wants to get everything she can out -of the world, and give as little as possible in return.” - -“And it is perfectly natural that she should,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. “The only way we can make the men give us what we really -want, is by asking for a great deal more, so that they will think -themselves lucky if we compromise on what we originally decided to -have.” - -“Hear! hear!” said the girl with the Roman nose, making an entry into -her note-book, “I’ve been acting on that theory all my life, but I -never thought to formulate it.” - -“Pardon me for the suggestion,” said the president, “but I hope you are -not in the habit of leaving that note-book around where any man can see -it.” - -“It wouldn’t make any difference if I did, dear. I went to such -a fashionable school that no one but myself can ever read my -chirography—I can’t myself, if it was written long enough ago for me to -have quite forgotten what I said.” - -“Then, you needn’t be uneasy about any old love letters which have not -been returned,” said the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Not at all. Nobody could tell whether I had written a promise of -undying affection or a recipe for hair tonic.” - -“I do wish my father had sent me to the same school,” said the -brown-eyed blonde, sorrowfully. - -“Pshaw, old letters don’t tell half as many tales as old photographs,” -said the girl with the eyeglasses, sighing. “I know a girl who had been -engaged to a man who returned everything she had given him except one -photograph. She couldn’t refuse to let him keep it when he begged so -hard.” - -“He had probably lost it, and didn’t know how to account for its -absence,” said the president. - -“No, he hadn’t. Well, six years later, she became engaged to another -man. I fancy she must have told him some stories about her age.” - -“It’s always better to understate rather than overstate a case,” said -the blue-eyed girl. - -“So my old nurse used to say. Well, when she was about to be married, -her old lover sent her a beautiful present, and with it an envelope -addressed to her fiancé.” - -“Which she should have opened herself,” said the president, promptly. - -“He happened to be present when the box was opened, dear. The envelope -contained the photograph taken seven years before—” - -“Why didn’t she say that—” - -“It was a picture of her elder sister? She did, dear. What really -caused the trouble was her own name, and the date on the back of it, -coupled with the statement that it was taken on her twenty-second -birthday!” - -“Oh, my goodness, how sly men are?” said the president. “And to think -that never, as long as she lived, could that girl tell him what she -really thought of him!” - -“I know. She used to say that she sometimes regretted that she _hadn’t_ -married him.” - -“Oh, well, he is probably married to somebody else, by this time, -anyhow,” said the president, “though I doubt if his wife would fully -appreciate the enormity of his behavior, since it was toward another -woman.” - -“Never mind,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “people are sure to be -punished in some way or another. I wouldn’t get up early on Sunday -morning, and go to church if I did not firmly believe that.” - -“Goodness me,” said the president, “it must be awfully late, girls, and -I promised Tom to adjourn early and meet him down town. I do wonder if -he has been waiting for me all this time!” - -“I’ve seen Jack,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, as the -friends went down the stairs; “met him on the street this morning.” - -“And, I suppose you hurried right on, and never said a civil word to -him,” returned the blue-eyed girl. - -“Indeed I didn’t. I called after him to wait for me, and—” - -“And I suppose he thought that I had told you to talk to him, since -you were so eager. You needn’t tell me a word that you said—I don’t -want to hear anything about it. Did—did he look sort of hollow-eyed and -worn?” - -“‘M—I can’t say that he did. But he said that he thought he must give -up chafing-dish suppers.” - -“I should think he must have bad dreams,” said the blue-eyed girl, -viciously. - -“He—he told me that he had called at your house the other day, and—” - -“I suppose you let him go on thinking that I meant that message for -him. A nice friend you are, Emily Marshmallow!” - -“Why, Dorothy, I—” - -“You don’t surely mean that you explained it all, and actually let him -think that I wanted to apologize! Well, if anybody had told me such a -thing of you, I never would have believed it.” - -“No, I didn’t,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “I didn’t -say a word, for just then Frances joined us; and if _you_ are clever -enough to get a private word with any man, after Frances sees him, I am -not!” - - - - -Chapter VII - -Woman in Legislation - - -“Let us discuss ‘Woman in Legislation,’ to-day,” said the president. “I -had written you a note, Marion, to prepare a paper on it, but I found -it in my desk this morning.” - -“Too bad,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “I should have been -delighted to do it.” - -“Why, Marion,” cried the girl with the Roman nose, “have you forgotten? -You said you were too busy painting dinner cards to touch it. That was -when I told you that Evelyn wanted you to do it, you remember.” - -“No, I don’t,” snapped the girl with the eyeglasses. “Of course I -shan’t have a minute to prepare a paper for next week; but I should -have been delighted to—” - -“Girls,” said the president, “only think! Tom says this club is -actually making me masculine.” - -“Mercy, you must have convinced him that you had the better of him in -an argument,” cried the girl with the Roman nose. - -“No—but I forgot to mail some letters he intrusted to me the other day -when he was going out of town. By the way, it seems to me that when -legislation is in the hands of women. What are you girls whispering -about over there in the corner?” - -“We are only comparing samples of bicycle suitings,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin. “Dorothy has a larger selection than I, and—” - -“Why, I have a lot of them, myself,” said the president. “Has anybody -seen my hand-bag since I came in?” - -“Here it is,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “I’ve just been -comparing your samples with mine, and I find—” - -“Goodness me, I’m late,” said the brown-eyed blonde, as she bounced -into the room. “I just stopped on my way here to look at a new design -for bicycle suits, and—” - -“I’ve been trying for half a block to catch you, Frances,” said the -girl with the classic profile, as she opened the door, in turn; “I’ve -been looking at the new bicycles, and was detained longer than I -expected.” - -“Oh, shall you get a new wheel this year?” asked the president. - -“No, dear,” returned the girl with the classic profile; “but, of -course, I wanted to see what they are like.” - -“Naturally,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “My dears, you never -heard of such luck as mine. You know papa said I shouldn’t have a new -bicycle this year, if I had to walk—” - -“Oh, if you call that luck,” said the blue-eyed girl, “my father said -the same thing.” - -“So did mine,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“Wait until you hear the rest,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “I -had my old machine set in order, and expected to have to do with it -all this season. The other day, I went into the store-room to have a -look at it, and, to my surprise, found it all splashed with mud, the -enamel scratched, and—” - -“The cook had been riding it, of course,” broke in the president. - -“I knew that at once, and I went to tell mamma she must discharge her -on the spot. However, mamma was lying down with a headache, and as -I had some shopping, a luncheon, two teas and a dinner on hand that -day, I had no chance to speak to her. Two days later, I remembered it, -and went in to look at it—I knew that mamma was so prejudiced against -bicycling that I must make the case very bad to excite her sympathy. -It was bad enough, by this time, too; one pedal was all bent, the -handle-bar was broken, and the enamel was a sight!” - -“I hope you made your mother discharge that cook on the spot!” said the -blue-eyed girl. - -“I rushed right up to mamma’s room to do it. I opened the door, and a -familiar odor greeted me—a combination of arnica and witch hazel, and—” - -“You forgot all about the cook. Had your mother fallen downstairs?” - -“No; she hadn’t. The cook had been trying to teach her to ride my -bicycle; she had a black eye, a sprained shoulder, and a skinned face. -The cook had gone home with a dislocated collar-bone, and I had to wait -on mamma, and do all the cooking for two days!” - -“And you call that luck!” groaned the president. - -“Not that, dear. But mamma gave me a beautiful new wheel for keeping -the whole thing from papa’s ears. And I sold the old one for enough to -buy me a lovely new suit,” she added, triumphantly. - -“I am glad _somebody_ has had a stroke of luck,” said the brown-eyed -blonde. “As for me, I’ve just had an object-lesson in the selfishness -of this world, which is enough to make a misanthrope of me for life.” - -“Mercy, has your grandmother decided to buy a wheel for herself instead -of for you?” asked the blue-eyed girl. - -“No. But you see it scratches the enamel to learn on a wheel—not to -mention the other accidents which may befall it. Now, Nell’s bicycle -is old, and I sent to borrow it to ride while I was taking my lessons. -She actually refused it, unless I would lend her my new one while I had -hers. Did you ever hear of such selfishness in your life?” - -“Never,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “By the way, I -suppose Jack Bittersweet will teach you to ride?” - -“Why, yes; but how did you guess it?” There was a note of triumph in -her voice. - -“Oh, that was easy enough. He is always teaching somebody, you know. I -told him the other day that I was afraid people would soon think him a -professional.” - -“B—but he told me that he only teaches people whom he—likes,” said the -brown-eyed blonde, faintly. - -“Why, of course, dear. But, Jack hasn’t a bit of discretion; he likes -everything that wears petticoats, I verily believe.” - -“Oh—I— By the way, Evelyn, dear, what is to-day’s topic? You had -started the discussion when I came, and I didn’t like to interrupt you -to ask.” - -“It is ‘Woman in Legislation,’” said the president, after a peep at her -note-book, “By the way, Frances, I know the cheapest place in town for -arnica, if you want—” - -“Mine doesn’t cost anything, dear. Papa always has a bill at the drug -store. I know the clerk, and he has promised if I use a very large -quantity to put it down as toilet soap and postage stamps. Papa has -never ridden you know, and he might not understand.” - -“Very true,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “What a comfort -bicycling is, anyhow. For instance, if you meet a strange man, and the -conversation lags—” - -“Get it on bicycles, and it runs smoothly enough,” said the president. - -“I wish _I_ could do the same,” wailed the brown-eyed blonde. “Well -it is lucky for me that the dancing season is over, for my arms are a -perfect sight.” - -“Oh, if it is only your arms!” said the girl with the Roman nose, -cheerfully. “_I_ always fell on my face when I was learning. The only -comforting thing about that was, that I soon became unrecognizable, and -could fall right up and down my own street without a soul knowing who I -was. It was very convenient, too, for they hadn’t far to take me when I -had a really bad accident.” - -“How long did you have to wait to sit for your photograph?” asked the -blue-eyed girl. - -“Six weeks, dear—and then it had to be a profile.” - -“Elizabeth had rather a hard time of it, too,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin; “she would learn in her lovely new suit, and by the -time she could ride, she hadn’t enough of it left to make a bathing -costume.” - -“Tom tells a rather good bicycle story,” observed the president. “He -met a member of his club, who is a noted scorcher, the other day. He -was wheeling along a very disreputable specimen of a woman’s machine. -‘Hello,’ said Tom, ‘got yourself into trouble?’ ‘Yes,’ was the reply, -‘I ran into a woman up yonder, and I’m afraid it will be cheaper to buy -her a new wheel than to have the old one repaired.’ ‘Humph,’ said Tom, -who knows him pretty well, ‘it’s a wonder you didn’t just ride away -and leave her, when you found what you had done.’ ‘I did,’ said the -scorcher, ‘but it didn’t do me any good.’ ‘Policeman saw you, eh?’ ‘No. -The woman turned out to be my wife!’” - -“Good!” said the blue-eyed girl. “I came very near not getting my -bicycle last year. Papa said I should have one if I learned to make a -good pie. I agreed to do it, but I had reckoned without the cook. She -said flatly that she wouldn’t have me messing up her kitchen. Finally, -I compromised by agreeing to trim her a hat, if she would make the -pie. It was really quite the same you know.” - -“Quite,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“And did it turn out all right?” asked the president. - -“The hat did; but the pie—well, the cook had lived with us for three -years, and that was the first time she had turned out an uneatable pie!” - -“But, why didn’t you ask your father to let you try again?” asked the -girl with the Roman nose. - -“I did, dear; but I took no chances that time; I bought the pie from -the Woman’s Exchange. And I must say that I think I quite deserved the -bicycle after all I had been through to earn it.” - -“Indeed you did,” said the girl with the classic profile. “By the way, -Emily, I hear that you and Dick had an almost fatal quarrel while you -were both learning.” - -“We did,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “It happened this -way: I was able to ride at least two blocks without assistance, so -I got up very early, and went to the park alone to practice. I was -getting along very well until I heard somebody coming up behind me at -a terrible pace. That made me so nervous that I fell right off. The -cyclist who had frightened me was Dick, and he actually kept right on -without offering to help me!” - -“Perhaps he didn’t know it was you,” suggested the girl with the Roman -nose. - -“Yes, he did; but he kept right on, and a perfect stranger had to take -me and my bicycle home. Two hours later he appeared with his arm in a -sling, and explained. He said it was first time he had ridden outside -of the riding school, and he had gotten a terrific pace which he -couldn’t have stopped if a rich uncle had been in his way. He said that -if something in his machine hadn’t broken, he verily believed he’d have -circled the globe without stopping!” - -“So you forgave him, didn’t you? You always were amiable,” said the -girl with the eyeglasses. - -“Ye—es. Especially as he offered to have my bicycle repaired; papa -having declared the last time that he wouldn’t pay another cent for -repairs, if it stood in the attic all summer!” - -“That was good of you. Some girls would not have been so just,” said -the president. - -“Oh, don’t praise me too much,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin, modestly. “Nobody who knew me happened to be in sight when it -occurred—else I might not have let him off so easily.” - -“Dear me, how modest you are,” said the blue-eyed girl. “I never knew a -human being with so little vanity in my life.” - -“Nor I,” said the girl with the classic profile. “Did I tell you -about Florence’s latest trouble? No? Well, you know that horrid Mr. -Brownsmith, who rides beautifully, begged to be allowed to teach her. -She accepted, and as soon as she had learned to ride well, she wondered -how to get rid of him.” - -“Why didn’t she ask her father to—” - -“Forbid him to the house? That’s just what she did. I believe you have -heard this story before.” - -“Yes. And her father?” queried the girl with the Roman nose. - -“Absolutely refused to do it. Said he was the finest young man he knew, -and only wondered that he cared for her society.” - -“Well, I declare! And Florence?” - -“Would have had to treat him just like anybody else, if he hadn’t heard -all about it, and stopped calling of his own accord. Now, every time -her father sees him, he asks why he hasn’t been to the house for so -long!” - -“How unreasonable men are to be sure—Florence’s father, in particular. -Why, he actually refuses to speak to Dickey Doolittle, whose third -cousin married a British baronet, and who has all his garments made in -London!” said the president. - -“I know—he says it makes no difference to him _where_ Dickey gets his -clothes; so long as he pays for them promptly,” said the blue-eyed -girl. - -“Which is the last thing Dickey would even think of doing,” said the -girl with the Roman nose. - -“Oh, well, he may _think_ of it,” said the girl with the classic -profile. “I suppose that even Dickey thinks sometimes.” - -“You have been reading the comic papers again,” said the president, -severely. “Whenever I hear old jokes I—” - -“No, dear,” said the girl with the classic profile, sweetly, “but I had -a long talk with your husband only yesterday.” - -“Dear me,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, rousing herself -from a reverie, “I’m afraid I’ve not been paying attention to the -discussion. I can’t even remember whether we decided that women should -be legislators or not.” - -“I’m sorry to hear that,” said the president. “I fear it is too late -to go over the discussion again for your benefit. I thought you were -taking notes of it as we went along—I saw you jotting something down in -your note-book.” - -“That was only my calculations for a bicycle suit. There must be -something wrong about them, too, for I make it twenty-seven dollars, -and I only have twenty-one dollars and thirty-eight cents to my name, -even if somebody pays my car-fare home.” - -“I only make it twenty-six dollars and two cents,” said the blue-eyed -girl, “and I have allowed for everything just the same as you have.” - -“But then you are so economical that your sums in addition always come -out less than mine, dear. I think you had better go over it again; or -let Evelyn do it for you.” - -“I make it twenty-eight dollars and sixty cents,” said the president. -“Try it Frances, and see if I am right.” - -“Oh, don’t,” said the blue-eyed girl, “if anybody else adds it up, it -may come out thirty dollars, and then I can’t afford it at all. Well, -I do hope one thing,—that when women are legislators they will arrange -that we all have more money to spend.” - -“Of course they will,” said the president, “else why should they -bother to be legislators at all?” - -“Hear! hear!” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“What a comfort you are with your knowledge of parliamentary usage,” -said the president. - -“Yes, I have gained that by joining this club, if I have gained nothing -else,” replied the girl with the Roman nose. “I observe, too, that papa -and the boys are less inclined to engage in argument with me than they -were before they knew the kind of topics we discuss here. Not that I -give myself any airs over it, of course,” she added. - -“Oh, none of us do that,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “But there is -another benefit which I derive from the club. Mamma allows me to spend -a good deal more money on my wardrobe, now that she is afraid that I -may begin to look intellectual if I’m not well dressed.” - -“Oh, speaking of bicycle suits; did you ever hear what happened to -Molly’s old one?” asked the blue-eyed girl. “No? Well, she was -determined to have a new one this year, so she put the old one away -without any moth-balls, and—” - -“It was completely ruined by the moths, so that she had to get a new -one?” asked the president. - -“No, it was comparatively uninjured; but the moths from it had got into -all her brother’s spring garments, which were hanging up near it. Molly -is thinking of going away on a nice long visit about the time that he -discovers it.” - -“H’m; if I know anything about men, she had better,” said the -president. “Poor Molly, I suppose she had meant to coax him for another -suit. How unlucky that girl is, and she doesn’t in the least deserve -her ill-luck, either.” - -“No. She often says it would be easier to bear if she did. Now, last -year that very same brother was always coaxing her to ask Ida to pay -her a visit. Finally, he said he’d give her fifty dollars if she would -do it, and she thought she might as well be good-natured and oblige -him. However, she was busy, and put it off a week or two, and when -Ida’s letter of acceptance actually came he had fallen in love with -another girl, and let Molly do all the entertaining!” - -“Just like a man. Did he give her the money?” asked the president. - -“No. He compromised on half, because Molly had put off asking her. And -Ida stayed two weeks longer than she had been asked for, and made eyes -all the time at the man Molly really liked herself.” - -“Yes, poor Molly,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “she says -the next time her brother offers to pay her for having a girl to visit -her, she will send the invitation by telegraph!” - -“And demand payment in advance,” said the brown-eyed blonde; “of course -he would be willing to pay for the telegram, anyhow.” - -“Yes, and take it to the office, too,” said the president, with a sigh. -“Tom used to send off all my telegrams before we were married—he always -said it was too far to the office for me to go myself. Now, he says -that the exercise will do me good.” - -“I suppose he doesn’t want to pay for the message,” said the blue-eyed -girl. - -“Oh, I never pay for my telegrams, I always send them at receiver’s -cost. People are so curious to know what is in a telegram that they pay -without a murmur.” - -“H’m, I shall have to try that,” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“But not on me,” cried the president. “I’ll never forgive you if you -do. Oh, girls, did you hear the awful thing that happened to Milly -when she sold her bicycle? No? Well, she only got ten dollars for it, -because the man said it was in such an awful condition that he only -took it to oblige her, and it would be a dead loss on his hands. He -told her to come in in about ten days, and he’d have some second hand -ones in such good condition that they would be the best bargains in -town.” - -“That was very nice of him, since he made nothing on the transaction,” -said the brown-eyed blonde. - -“So Milly thought. At the end of that time she went back, and found one -that she liked very much, it being the same make as her old one. He -wanted sixty dollars for it, but she beat him down to fifty, and took -it home with her at once for fear he would change his mind. What do -you think she found when she got home? That she had bought her own old -machine back again!” - -“But how did she know that?” asked the girl with the Roman nose. - -“By the number on the plate, goosie. He had put on new pedals, raised -the seat a bit and given it a new coat of enamel—making forty dollars -on the transaction! And when Milly wanted her husband to punish him for -his rascality, he only laughed until she actually thought seriously of -applying for a divorce!” - -“And no wonder,” said the blue-eyed girl. “One man will do a mean thing -and another will uphold him. You don’t find women doing such things for -each other!” - -“No, indeed,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin; “our own -standard of feminine behavior is so high, that we hardly even give each -other credit for the good things we do!” - -“I’ve often noticed that,” said the girl with the eyeglasses, “and I -regret to see that men are unable to appreciate our lofty motives, and -often set it down to envy.” - -“My goodness,” cried the president, with a guilty start, “it must -be long past time to adjourn, and I don’t want the janitor to look -at me as he did last time we were late. Why, he couldn’t have been -more unpleasant if I had been his own wife! And the look which always -reduces Tom to instant submission hadn’t the least effect upon him!” - -“I’ve been dying for an opportunity to speak to you all afternoon,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin, to the blue-eyed girl, as -they turned the corner, “I met Effie Bittersweet to-day, and she spoke -so nicely of you that I am sure she thinks you and her brother are -about to become reconciled.” - -“It isn’t Jack this time, dear,” was the calm reply. “The fact is, that -Clarence Lighthed has been paying me a good deal of attention lately, -and she was afraid you would think her jealous.” - -“Clarence! Well, I never—how on earth did you manage it, Dorothy?” - -“Strange as it may appear, I didn’t manage it at all; he did it -entirely of his own accord. But though that is the honest truth, there -isn’t another girl of my acquaintance who would even _pretend_ to -believe it if I told her.” - -“I suppose not, dear; and yet men must sometimes admire girls of their -own free will. Well, Effie must be feeling very badly, then, for she -said that of course she knew I would laugh at her for saying it, but -for her part, she considered Dorothy Darling the prettiest girl in our -set.” - -“Humph, I’ll remember that when Clarence calls to-morrow afternoon. You -couldn’t persuade Effie to drop in with you for a cup of tea, could -you?” - -“Ye—es, I suppose I could, if you will promise to put enough rum in my -cup to fortify me for the walk home. And I have always wanted to own a -hand mirror like that silver one of yours. Do you suppose anybody will -ever give me one?” - -“You may have mine, if you will promise to bring Effie in at precisely -half-past four; Clarence will be reading poetry aloud by that time.” - -“I promise; and I might just as well stop in and get the hand mirror -now. You won’t want me to leave you a moment to-morrow. - -“Indeed, I shall not. By the way, of course I told you that I cracked -the mirror breaking taffy the other afternoon! No? Why, I wonder how I -could have overlooked the fact.” - -“Never mind, dear, Ned Crœsus will have it mended for me—and thank me -for letting him do it, instead of Dick. By the way, how can you endure -so much of Clarence’s society? You always said he was so stupid.” - -“That was when he used to talk of nothing but Effie. Any man would be -stupid, if his only theme was another girl. You—you couldn’t let Jack -know about Clarence, could you? If it was any one else Effie would tell -him the first time she was provoked with him. Frances will be careful -not to let him know, and men have such silly ideas about interfering -with other peoples’ affairs, that I doubt if any of them say a word to -him about the matter.” - -“I might. Yes, I know I could, if only I was sure that you would not -blame me if it turned out badly.” - -“Well, Emily Marshmallow, to think of refusing to do a little thing -like that for me—when I’ve just given you that lovely hand mirror, -which I like better than anything I own. I just believe you want Jack -Bittersweet yourself, and I’m sure you are welcome to him, for aught I -care!” - -“Look here, Dorothy, I think you forget that Jack is two whole inches -shorter than I; and if you think I am capable of caring enough for -_any_ man to make myself look like a—a bean pole for the rest of my -natural life, you are very much mistaken!” - -“Oh, well, if you are sorry to have hurt my feelings, of course I shall -overlook it. I only hope, however, that you will not rely too much on -my natural amiability and push me too far. If you should see Jack in -the near future you might, as you suggested,—” - -“But, I didn’t suggest at all. You must just tell me what you want me -to say to Jack and, if I get a chance, I—” - -“You are entirely mistaken. I don’t want you to say anything to Jack; -after the way he has treated me, I have too much pride to raise a -finger to bring him back. I only thought that, as you are a friend of -his, you might like to warn him that there are others who appreciate -me, if he does not.” - -“B—but I rather fancy that he will expect—er some kind of an -explanation of the—the occurrence at your house last week. Suppose I -just say—” - -“Well, then, all I’ve got to say is, that if Jack Bittersweet is too -stupid to understand a simple accident, I don’t care if he never speaks -to me again. Clarence Lighthed is one of the very nicest fellows I ever -knew, and I am one of the hap—happiest girls in the world. Don’t look -at me as if you thought I was crying! I am not—and if I was, it would -be out of p—pure joy!” - - - - -Chapter VIII - -An Executive Meeting - - -“Why, Frances, is that you? And on your way to the Club, too,” cried -the blue-eyed girl, as she caught up with the brown-eyed blonde, “how -lucky I am; I shall have a nice long talk with you as we go along! How -well you are looking to-day, quite fresh, I declare! Dear me, I should -have put on my gloves before I left home, but I was in such haste that—” - -“By the way, Dorothy, it seems to me that you are not wearing as many -rings as usual this winter. Surely, I miss the diamond you used to -wear!” - -“Why, no I’m not; so much jewelry is always vulgar, and rings are _so_ -hard on one’s gloves. Mercy, we have walked a whole block, and you -haven’t told me a bit of news!” - -“Haven’t I? By the way, I heard Ja—a man I know, say something about -you yesterday which was quite a surprise. I don’t really know whether I -ought to repeat it, or not.” - -“Oh, he wouldn’t have said it before you unless he expected you to -repeat it, dear. You must tell me what it is, or I shall fancy it was -not really unpleasant, and, really I’ve had so many compliments of late -that it will be quite a change. I am actually afraid that Cla—a friend -who thinks too well of me—will make me vain, and that—” - -“Impossible, dear. By the way, I hear that Clarence Lighthed comes to -see you occasionally now, and—” - -“Not oftener than once in twenty-four hours, dear.” - -“Yes. And really he has been so devoted to so many girls that—” - -“It is a wonder that he has never thought of _you_! Why so it is, now -that I think of it. But never mind, there may be a chance for you yet. -Pardon me, you were about to repeat something you had heard about me, -and I’m afraid I interrupted you.” - -“Was I? Dear me, I have quite forgotten what it was; nothing very -important, I’m sure.” - -“Very true. By the way, I heard something about _you_ the other day, -too. It was extremely complimentary—so much so indeed, that you will -think I am trying to flatter you, if I repeat it.” - -“Indeed? Oh, I remember now what I was about to tell you. It was—so you -really heard something nice about poor little me?” - -“Yes, I really did. I’ll tell you after you have finished your story. I -really must not interrupt you again.” - -“Yes, Ja—I mean the man I know—said the other day that he thought -you—now you mustn’t mind this, at all, Dorothy; I told him at once that -nobody else had ever said such a thing of you.” - -“How kind of you to champion me, dear; I really did not expect it.” - -“Oh, yes; I often do it. He said—I wouldn’t repeat it to you, but the -absurdity of the charge takes all the sting out of it. He said, ‘I -consider Dorothy Darling the most heartless flirt I ever knew!’ Isn’t -it too funny!” and she burst into a peal of laughter. - -The blue-eyed girl paused to pat a little dog before she replied: “How -well you do tell a story, Frances, dear. Look at that poor, old blind -man over yonder; let us cross over and give him some pennies,” and she -was almost dancing as she crossed the street. - -“Perhaps he is an impostor, after all,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “By -the way, you said somebody paid me a nice compliment the other day. Do -tell me what it was, and if I ever get the chance—be it twenty years -from now—I’ll do the same for you.” - -“Oh, yes, indeed. Old Miss Lucy Brownsmith said to me, only the other -day, ‘Really, Frances is quite a nice-looking girl now that she has -given up lacing so tightly.’ I knew you would be so pleased. Well, -here we are at the Club; I am afraid that I must have walked too fast -for you, dear; you look quite flushed.” - -“Oh, Emily, dear,” she whispered, as she embraced her friend in the -cloak room, “Jack is wild with jealousy! He told Frances the other day -that I was the most heartless flirt he ever knew!” - -“Then, he is ready to go half-way toward making up! Oh, I am so glad -that I—” - -“Half-way? Do you suppose, Emily Marshmallow, that after allowing -Clarence Lighthed to bore me almost to death for two weeks, I shall be -willing to go half-way to make up with Jack?” - -“But you said the other day that unless you _did_ make up with him, you -would learn to be a trained nurse and devote your life to others, and I -thought—” - -“Never mind what I said the other day—that was before I knew how -jealous Jack was. And all I’ve got to say, is this: if you expect me -to make a fright of myself in a gray cloak and bonnet and cotton gown -just to please _you_, you are very much mistaken!” - -The girl with the eyeglasses put her head in at the door, “Come into -the club-room right away, girls,” she said. “Evelyn is here, and she -has something of the greatest importance to tell us.” - -The president was evidently excited as she called the meeting to order. -“I am just as angry as I can be,” she said. “What do you think I found -in my mail to-day? A letter from a man who is old enough to know -better, suggesting a topic for discussion by this club. That topic was, -‘The Best Method of Keeping the Hat on Straight.’” - -“You don’t say so!” said the girl with the Roman nose. “Well, it only -shows that our mental advancement has made him uneasy.” - -“Of course,” said the president. “Then, as if that was not enough, -he suggests a small mirror fastened to the inside of an umbrella or -parasol as—” - -“Pshaw!” said the brown-eyed blonde, “a highly polished silver handle -answers the same purpose and attracts less attention.” - -“Talk about hats,” said the girl with the classic profile, “men are -just as fussy about their own. Did you ever see anybody put on a man’s -hat to suit him?” - -“Never,” said the president. “I had an awful time when Tom’s arm was -broken. I would put on his hat as carefully as I could—he always would -tip it too far back himself—and yet, each time he would remove it, look -suspiciously into the crown, and put it on again himself.” - -“As if it makes any difference how a man looks, anyhow,” said the girl -with the eyeglasses. “So long as they are nice and generous, no girl -cares—” - -“Very true,” broke in the girl with the dimple in her chin, “and it -is frequently the pocket of a last year’s overcoat which harbors the -largest box of candy.” - -“I should like to know how a man manages to keep his hat on without -veil or pins,” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“He doesn’t always do it in a high wind,” said the girl with the -classic profile. - -“And yet he always wonders why a woman holds her hat on when she is -driving,” remarked the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“You know what a fuss men always make about big theater hats,” said -the president. “Well, thinking to please Tom, I got a tiny bonnet, -which was so becoming that it attracted as much attention as a regular -mountain of feathers and velvet.” - -“And wasn’t he pleased?” asked the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“Not when the bill came in, and he found that it cost rather more -than a large hat. I said that he ought to be content to pay for the -principle of a thing. He replied that it looked as if the interest was -all about all he could afford. I suppose he thought that was sarcastic.” - -“Men have such queer ideas of humor, anyhow,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin; “why, I know a man who once laughed heartily at a -joke on himself.” - -“Perhaps he owed money to the man who made it, or wanted his vote for -something,” said the girl with the classic profile. - -“Well, I’d like to know who first invented hat-pins,” said the -brown-eyed blonde. “I am sure it was not a woman, because—” - -“It was a man, and he was either an old bachelor or a bigamist,” said -the girl with the Roman nose. “I had two pins running straight into my -scalp all during service on Sunday. Dick was with me, too, and it was -so hard to look saintly when—” - -“Men always ask why we don’t tie our hats on, when we complain of -pins,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “Wouldn’t we -look nice with our jaws tied up like those of a small boy with the -toothache?” - -“To say nothing of having our hearing so impaired that we couldn’t be -sure whether compliments whispered into our ears were intended for us -or were merely remarks made about other girls,” said the brown-eyed -blonde. - -“Well, girls,” said the president, “I see you all resent it, as I do; -and I’m just going to write that horrid man a letter telling him that -the Teacup Club has too many serious topics to discuss to waste time -upon anything relating to millinery.” - -“Speaking of millinery,” said the blue-eyed girl, “did you ever see -anything as sweet as the new hats! I went with Elizabeth to select the -ones for her trousseau the other day, and it did seem hard to me that -a girl only has a chance _once_ in her life to buy as many hats as she -really wants, and—” - -“Not to mention the fact that it is just at the time when she is so -much interested in her future husband that she can’t give her whole -mind to the subject,” broke in the girl with the eyeglasses. “Now, if -she could only choose her trousseau a year after her marriage, instead -of before.” - -“Yes; or even six months,” said the president. “Well, my new hat -must cost five dollars less than I had hoped. I borrowed that amount -from Tom last month; and—will you believe it?—he took it out of my -allowance for this month, in spite of the fact that I told him I had -spent it for his birthday present.” - -“But why didn’t you take it out of your housekeeping allowance? You -usually do,” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“Because I had already taken enough for a half-dozen pairs of gloves -out of that. It happened that he had not given a single stag dinner -during the month, so I could not filch too much without discovery. When -he gives a dinner, I can always pay myself well for the trouble of it. -If he complains of the bills, I just say, ‘Yes, dear, I see that we -cannot afford any more stag dinners,’ and that settles it at once,” she -added. - -“I should think it would,” said the blue-eyed girl, thoughtfully. “Did -you tell Tom how mean you thought it of him to expect you to pay back -money that you had borrowed?” - -“I did. I said, ‘I wouldn’t be as selfish as you are for anything!’” - -“And did that make him feel badly? I should think so.” - -“Not a bit. You don’t know Tom; he just laughed as if it was funny. -Luckily, I had given him a silk umbrella for his birthday, and as he -has two already, and this one is—er rather small, I shall get a good -deal of use out of it myself.” - -“And you hadn’t one at all, had you?” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “I remember the day you lost yours.” - -“Yes. Wasn’t it nice of me to buy one for him when I really needed it -for myself? But one can’t expect a man to appreciate generosity.” - -“Oh, girls,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “what do you -think I heard to-day?” - -“I don’t know what _you_ heard,” said the girl with the Roman nose, -“but I heard that Clarence Lighthed has just inherited a fortune from -an uncle whom he had never seen! You know he is my cousin, and—” - -“Have you just heard that,” said the blue-eyed girl, “He told _me_ -about it a week ago—the day you said he was stupid, Emily. I knew at -the time that you would feel badly when you discovered that it was -only—er—grief for the death of his uncle, which made him so quiet and -thoughtful. Poor fellow, it must have been _such_ a shock to him!” - -“How kind of you to comfort him in his sorrow,” said the brown-eyed -blonde, in sarcastic tones. - -“Yes, dear—especially as he could have his choice of comforters. I -think you said that you, too, have a piece of news, Emily.” - -“Why—er—yes, I heard that Effie Bittersweet is on the verge of nervous -prostration.” - -The blue-eyed girl said never a word; she looked out of the window -opposite her, and there was a soft, sweet smile on her face. Perhaps -she failed to see the glances that were exchanged by the others. - -“Oh, girls, have you heard the awful thing that happened to me -yesterday?” asked the girl with the eyeglasses. “No? Then, I had -better tell you all about it myself. I had an engagement with Harry; -we were to call on his aunt who lives in Rogers Park—nothing very -exciting, you know. Well, Mr. Doolittle came in early to ask me if I -wouldn’t go to the matinée with him. Now, I knew Harry would take me to -see his aunt any day, and Mr. Doolittle might never ask me to go to the -matinée again, so I accepted his invitation at once.” - -“You would have been very stupid if you hadn’t,” said the president. - -“So I thought. Then, I told him that I must stop in at the drug store -and send off a telephone message. You see, I didn’t want to give Harry -all the trouble of coming up in vain.” - -“You are always so thoughtful,” said the blue-eyed girl. - -“I try to be. I called Harry up, but he was not in, and I told the -office-boy to tell him that I was ill, and could not go with him to -Rogers Park, but hoped to be out in a day or two. The boy was as stupid -as he could be; I had to repeat the message twice, and even spell my -name. Oh, it was awful!” - -“What? his stupidity?” asked the girl with the Roman nose. - -“No; my own. As I was going out, the clerk stopped me, and said, ‘You -needn’t have taken all that trouble, Miss Marion; you were telephoning -to Mr. Vansmith, weren’t you? Well, that was he that just went out; -he was standing about three feet away from you all the time you were -trying to make the person at the other end of the line understand!’” - -“Well, I hope your father is satisfied _now_,” said the president. “You -have been trying to get him to put in a telephone all winter.” - -“Humph; you don’t know my father very well, dear. When I told him about -it, he only said that he was more fully satisfied than ever that women -were not to be trusted with telephones!” - -“Then there was that horrid drug clerk,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin; “why didn’t he stop you when Harry came in, instead of -letting you—” - -“The fact is, that I knew he was trying to attract my attention all the -time, but I thought that it was only somebody else who wanted to use -the telephone in a hurry, and I took my own good time.” - -“He might have known you would have done that,” said the girl with -the classic profile. “Girls, I often wonder why drug clerks are such -gloomy, misanthropic creatures?” - -“Dear knows,” said the president; “I’ve often noticed it, though. -And how cross a clerk in a shoe store always is! Strange, too, when -they have such light, easy work. I tried on seventeen pairs of boots -only yesterday, and I never was so tired in all my life; yet I was as -amiable as possible, and the clerk, who had nothing to do but wait -on me, was so rude that I thought seriously of having the proprietor -in to hear of it. However, I compromised by going out without buying -anything.” - -“It was very good of you, I’m sure,” said the blue-eyed girl. “You -know Marie sends to Paris for all her shoes. I never saw such beauties -in all my life as she wears.” - -“H’m. I know she _says_ so,” returned the girl with the Roman nose, -“but—look here, if I tell you something, will you promise never to tell -it as long as you live? Well, then, I spent the day with Marie last -week. She had a lovely new pair of shoes, and I tried my best, without -asking directly, you know, to find the name of the Parisian boot-maker, -and how much she paid for them.” - -“Of course you didn’t find out,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin. “Marie can be as impervious to a hint as a man.” - -“M’hm. Well, she got ready to go out with me, and just as we were ready -to start she was called out of the room. Her boots were all in the -closet, and I—well, somehow I just happened to be near the door, it was -ajar, and I stooped down to look at the maker’s name on them, when—oh, -girls, the door behind me suddenly flew open!” - -“Oh, my goodness, it was Marie herself! What did—” - -“No, it was the maid. She said: ‘Will you please tell Miss Marie, when -she comes in, that Cashly has sent up for the pair of boots she didn’t -take. The boy is waiting in the hall.’” - -“Well, I never,” said the blue-eyed girl. “But I’ve always said that if -I sent to Paris for my boots I’d have better looking ones than _she_ -gets!” - -“But then Marie gets a great deal for her money, dear, even if the -boots themselves are not of a superior quality,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. - -“Very true. By the way, who went to Marie’s tea yesterday?” said the -girl with the dimple in her chin; “I did not. Since the founding of -this club I have cared less and less for gossip and society, and—” - -“Then you didn’t mind not receiving an invitation to Marie’s after -all!” said the brown-eyed blonde. “I must tell her that. She said -yesterday that she didn’t expect you to speak to her for a month.” - -“By the way,” said the girl with the Roman nose, hastily, “Dick made -rather a good suggestion yesterday. He said why not have a phonograph, -or even a stenographer, in the room while we are discussing a topic; -then we could have copies made, and—” - -“That reminds me,” said the president, and she rapped loudly for order. -“Girls, do be quiet. We have a very important question to decide -to-day. A number of men have expressed a desire to become members of -this club, and—” - -“I vote against it,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “We can all -express our real opinions now, knowing they will go no further, -whereas—” - -“No club man can ever keep a secret,” broke in the girl with the dimple -in her chin. “As for us, we would die rather than divulge—” - -“They are so curious, too,” broke in the girl with the classic profile. -“We have all talked so much about our meetings that they want to know -how they are conducted, that is all.” - -“Yes, that is just it,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “and once in they -would spoil all the originality of it by having rules and all that. -Then they’d go away and say that we couldn’t get along without them.” - -“The idea!” said the president, “when that’s the very reason I set our -time of meeting in the afternoon!” - -“Look here,” said the girl with the eyeglasses, “of course we don’t -want to offend them. Why not have a ‘man’s day’ once in a while?” - -“So we might,” said the president; “but we had better wait until we get -all our new things. Well, I suppose, since we are all agreed, that we -had better not waste time in voting on it. I’m awfully glad to see you -here, Elise; I was afraid you would not be able to come.” - -“Oh, I was determined not to miss it,” said the girl with the Roman -nose. “I left word for them to tell the doctor I was asleep if he -called in my absence. I have been troubled with insomnia, you know, and -he would tell them not to disturb me. Of course, he gave me strict -orders not to go out, but he—” - -“Will never know that,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “Oh, such a time as -I had last fall when I was ill! You see, papa was going to make me go -to Philadelphia to stay with old Aunt Borely. I—I was not very well, -anyhow, so I took to my bed.” - -“Yes, and you had that nice young doctor, too,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. “Oh, why am I so brutally healthy!” - -“I did, and he cured me of my particular ailment,” went on the -brown-eyed blonde. “I had a most becoming light in the room the first -time he called, and what do you think he did? Pulled every window-shade -up to the top, until I looked a perfect fright—and he young enough to -know better!” - -“Pshaw!” said the girl with the classic profile. “All doctors are -horrid. Why, I once had such a handsome one that he sent my pulse away -up every time he felt it. I did look so horrid that one day I—I put on -a little rouge just before he came. In consequence he said I had a -high fever, and put me on a milk-and-water diet for three days, besides -giving me—” - -“Like the mean thing I had last year,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “I had a cough, and wanted a trip to Florida; instead, I got -a pair of overshoes, a lot of flannels, and a mackintosh.” - -“Of course,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “Well, I don’t believe -my doctor is a good one; he—” - -“Is too ugly to be a really good one, anyhow,” broke in the blue-eyed -girl. “Fancy being delirious, and seeing that creature enter the room!” - -“By the way,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “I wonder why -ugly men are always having their photographs taken and expecting one to -keep them hanging up where one can see them constantly!” - -“Perhaps,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “they hope it may be a case of - - “But seen too oft, familiar with its face, - We first endure, then pity, then”—— - -No, I don’t mean that,” she broke off, blushing. - -“I should hope not,” said the blue-eyed girl, in shocked tones. “I -should be sorry to think that any member of this club—” - -“The very queen of clubs,” broke in the president; “that is what Tom -calls it—when he is in a particularly good humor, I mean. I think we -had better adjourn now,” she added; “Elise really ought not to be -out late, and I am wild to tell Tom that men will not be admitted to -membership. Doesn’t the doctor do that pain in your chest any good, -Elise?” - -“You don’t suppose that I told him anything about that, do you?” cried -the girl with the Roman nose. “I hope I am not so silly as that—with -Elizabeth’s wedding coming off in a week, and my lovely low-cut gown -all ready to wear to it!” - -“Just wait one moment,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “I -haven’t got to-day’s topic down in my note-book. What did you say it -was, Evelyn?” - -“Oh, my goodness!” cried the president, turning pale, “here we have -had a meeting, and I have forgotten to suggest any topic—and not one of -you thought to remind me of it! Oh, I am afraid that all my efforts to -advance you intellectually are wasted, after all!” - -“Never mind,” said the girl with the eyeglasses, “this has been an -executive meeting, anyhow.” - -“Why, so it has,” said the president, kissing her; “what a comfort you -are, Marion dear. Tom’s handsome cousin is coming home from Montana -next week with a lot of money, and you shall be the very first girl to -have an introduction to him!” - -“Have you seen Jack Bittersweet lately?” asked the girl with the -eyeglasses, as she linked her arm in that of the girl with the dimple -in her chin, after the meeting had dissolved. - -“Yes, he came to see me yesterday. I was in agony all the time he was -there, lest Dorothy come in. I knew she would never believe that it was -the first time he had done it since they quarreled!” - -“Of course she wouldn’t. Did he ask your advice?” - -“Yes. So does she—but neither of them take it.” - -“You don’t expect that, I hope. Well, did you find out if he still -cares for her?” - -“He does. I sat on the sofa, in my prettiest house-gown, and he took a -chair six feet away. He didn’t even tell me that fewer men would go to -the dogs if there were more women like me in the world!” - -“Well, I only hope that they will soon come to their senses, that’s -all. Dorothy looks like a ghost, and as for Jack—” - -“If they don’t,” cried the girl with the dimple in her chin, savagely, -“I shall just have to spend a month or two in a sanatarium. And I’m not -sure that that will save my life,” she added. - - - - -Chapter IX - -On the Use and Abuse of Political Power - - -“The absurdity of some people!” said the president, pausing as she -was about to call the meeting to order. “What excuse do you suppose -Elizabeth gave for not asking me to look at her pretty things? She said -she fancied I had grown too intellectual to care for gowns and hats!” - -“How ridiculous! She had probably heard that you do not intend to send -her a wedding present,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“I haven’t told a soul but the members of this club that I shouldn’t -give her one,” said the president. - -“Then she couldn’t possibly know it,” said the blue-eyed girl, hastily. - -“What enrages _me_, is the insinuation that I have ceased to care for -pretty things, just because I study politics, and—er—other things. I -don’t see why intellectuality has anything to do with doing up one’s -hair with three hairpins, or—” - -“Wearing gowns which are frayed around the bottom,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin; “neither do I. And, yet they seem to be somehow -connected in people’s minds.” - -“Very true,” said the president. “Girls, the editor of a literary -journal has asked for some of the papers which have been read before -this club. He says—” - -“Mercy, what answer shall you make?” cried the girl with the dimple in -her chin. - -“I told him that I could not think of such a thing. I always disliked -notoriety. It was very kind of him, though, and he even offered to let -the authors of the papers have copies of their effusions at reduced -rates, provided they took over a hundred.” - -“Which, of course, they would,” said the blue-eyed girl. “Well, you -were quite right to refuse, Evelyn. I, for one, have such a horror of -publicity, and, besides, it would be quite expensive sending copies to -all one’s acquaintances.” - -“True,” said the president; “we are all in accord, as usual. Let us -discuss, ‘The Use and Abuse of Political Power,’ to-day. It is a -subject which is of the greatest importance to all of us, and—” - -“How do you spell ‘political?’ With one _t_ or two?” asked the girl -with the eyeglasses, as she opened her note-book. - -“With one—no, two. Pshaw, I can’t remember. Just write it indistinctly.” - -“Oh, Dorothy,” whispered the girl with the dimple in her chin, “I saw -Dick this morning, and he says Jack told him yesterday that he didn’t -really know what your quarrel was about, but he meant to go and see you -to-day, and ask you to forgive him!” - -“I shall,” said the blue-eyed girl; “and I don’t mind confessing to -you, Emily, that I, too, may have been just the merest possible bit in -the wrong. I’ve felt it right along, but I couldn’t admit it, until he— -What shall I wear when he comes to see me?” - -“You might wear the blue gown he always admires so much.” - -“So I might. You know I wore a blue gown the day he asked me to marry -him, and he said I must keep it always. Of course, this isn’t the same -one, but I am careful to have each succeeding one the same color, and -he doesn’t know the difference. Perhaps I have told you this before.” - -“I think you have, dear—once or twice,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin, demurely. - -“Yes. I don’t mind letting you know, Emily, that I have missed him a -good deal. Why, I had his photograph—the one I pretended to have lost, -so I needn’t send it back—out when you knocked at my door to-day. You -couldn’t have helped seeing me thrust it under Clover’s cushion, if you -hadn’t thought something was wrong with your boot heel, and stooped -down to see.” - -“You don’t say so. Well, all I’ve got to say is, I wish I might see -Frances’ face at the wedding!” - -“You shall, dear. I’ll ask her to be bridesmaid, and you, as maid -of honor, can have a good chance to watch her. You have been such a -faithful friend to both Jack and myself that you deserve at least that -much satisfaction.” - -“Look here, Emily and Dorothy, I am afraid you are not attending -strictly to the discussion,” said the president. “The topic is— -Frances, what on earth has made you so late?” - -“It was all an accident,” said the brown-eyed blonde; “I stopped -for you, Dorothy, on my way to the club. The maid said you had gone -already, and I was just coming away when I noticed that your little -dog—what is his name? Rover? Ah, Clover! I knew it was something like -that—was chewing something at the back of the hall! I went to see what -it was, and—” - -“Oh, my goodness gracious! Not my new sixteen-button gloves,” wailed -the blue-eyed girl. “I’ll give that dog away to-morrow!” - -“No, dear, not your gloves. It was a photograph. Just as I was trying -to get the pieces away from him, Ja—I mean Mr. Bittersweet—came up the -steps with a huge bunch of violets. He must have seen me standing in -the hall; you know the door was open.” - -“Yes, dear,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “that checked -gown of yours speaks for itself!” - -“I—ah, where was I? Oh—he succeeded in getting the fragments away -and—really, it was too funny! It turned out to be a photograph of -himself! I told him that I was almost sure that you didn’t give it to -the dog purposely, Dorothy; but I am afraid I didn’t quite convince -him.” - -“Indeed; and where are the violets?” asked the girl with the dimple in -her chin; “you don’t seem to be wearing them!” - -“Why, er—no. Ja—I mean Mr. Bittersweet—threw them at the dog. You will -find them right by the stairway, Dorothy, dear; but I’m afraid they are -not in very good condition. What is to-day’s topic, Evelyn?” - -“‘The Use and Abuse of Political Power,’” said the president, in a -faint voice. “Will somebody open the window, please; I need air!” - -“Oh, Evelyn,” said the girl with the Roman nose, after the president -had announced that she felt better, “I do hope you are not sitting up -at night studying, and that sort of thing.” - -“Why, er—no, I believe not. The fact is I’ve been going to a good many -dances of late on Tom’s account.” - -“But Tom doesn’t go, does he?” - -“No. B—but everybody knows how fond of dancing I am; and if I didn’t -go they would say he kept me at home. I don’t want Tom to pose as a -tyrant, you know!” - -“Of course not. You—” - -“Yes. The only thing which makes me feel uncomfortable is the angelic -way in which he bears my absence. It isn’t like Tom, and—” - -“Clarence—my cousin you know—was saying only the other day, that he -thought you an angel to allow Tom and his friends to smoke in the -drawing-room, just because you happened to be out,” said the girl with -the Roman nose. “I wonder if that—” - -“To smoke in the drawing-room!” shrieked the president, turning -pale. “I’ll go home this minute, and tell him what I think of such a -proceeding. No, I won’t, either; he is at the office, and it would not -do any good! I never suspected such a thing and—” - -“Oh, well, then the smoke couldn’t have done the rugs and curtains much -harm, after all, if you never noticed the odor.” - -“It’s the principle of the thing, my dear. What hurts me, is the fact -that my husband respects my wishes so little, when I only go to dances -to keep people from thinking ill of him, too! Well, one thing sure, -I’ll have all new curtains and carpets—since mine are ruined with -smoke—if he keeps on talking about hard times until he is black in the -face!” - -“I wonder why men are always talking about hard times,” said the girl -with the classic profile; “women never say anything about them.” - -“Unless they are driven to it,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin. “My sister’s husband wanted to have his mother come for a nice, -long visit, but she told him that she hardly thought they could afford -it in such hard times. You see he had just made that excuse for not -doing up the house.” - -“With the result?” queried the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“That he decided to have the house done up at once! And, after all, the -old lady only stayed about a week. Helen says she can’t imagine why she -went, unless, she was offended at her suggestion that she might like to -take a course at the cooking-school while she was here.” - -“Well, I don’t blame Helen, at all,” said the blue-eyed girl. “No man -has a right to be dyspeptic before he is married, and her husband was. -Everybody ought to have a fair chance, and Helen’s cooking might not -have given it to him for years.” - -“At any rate, he can’t blame _her_ for his dyspepsia—and that is -something,” said the president. “Girls, does any one know why Josephine -has given up her lessons at the cooking school?” - -“I suppose she has made one really good loaf of bread, and doesn’t want -to tempt fate again,” said the blue-eyed girl. - -“That is not the reason,” said the girl with the eyeglasses, “she is -engaged to a man who knows how to cook, so there is no use for her to -waste any more time over it. She is studying political economy now.” - -“And a very good thing, too,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin, “for the way money is wasted on elections, is really shocking!” - -“Hear! hear!” cried the girl with the Roman nose. “Of course I don’t -want to have men as members of this club, but I can’t help wishing -sometimes that a few of them might hear Emily and Evelyn when they are -attacking political abuses and monopolies.” - -“For my part, I don’t see why they haven’t thrust the privilege of -suffrage upon us long ago,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “Then -they would have somebody to blame, when civic and national affairs go -wrong!” - -“Pshaw,” said the president, “that isn’t necessary at all. They can -come home and scold because dinner is late, or the hall gas is unlit, -and so relieve their feelings just the same.” - -“I’m sure I don’t want to vote,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “It is ever so much nicer to do as the men do with our -housekeeping—just criticise that which we can never display our -ignorance by attempting to do ourselves.” - -“That is only your sweet modesty, dear,” said the girl with the classic -profile. “What do you think Mr. Bonds said the other day! Ah, I was so -indignant! He said it was a mistake to say that women could not throw -stones.” - -“I don’t see why you were indignant at that,” said the brown-eyed -blonde. “It seems to me—” - -“It wasn’t that. It was what came afterward. He said he knew it was a -libel for they could—at each other! And every man in the room laughed -as if he had said something clever!” - -“I declare,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “it is enough to make a -man-hater of me. If only people would not say that it was because of -some particular man who failed to admire me—” - -“There is no danger of it being laid to the door of any _one_ man in -your case, dear,” said the blue-eyed girl. “Is that your new gown that -you are wearing to-day, Frances, dear?” - -“Why, yes. Quite a novelty, isn’t it. How do you like it?” - -“Very much indeed, dear. I stopped and looked at it hanging in the -cleaner’s window the other day, and thought how well it looked. You -remember, don’t you, Dorothy, my calling your attention to it?” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“Quite well. I thought at the time that it was well she had not -attempted to clean it herself. By the way, Helen’s little boy said such -a clever thing the other day. We were speaking of favorite perfumes, -and how nice it was to always use the same one, and he said: ‘I know -what is Miss Frances’ favorite perfume. Her gloves always smell of it.’ -‘And what is it?’ Helen asked. ‘Gasoline,’ said the dear little fellow. -Did you ever hear anything so clever in your life?” - -“Oh, girls,” said the president, hastily, “speaking of gloves: I had -a letter from Pauline the other day, and such a heart-rending thing -had occurred to her. A nice man was buttoning her gloves one day, and -he said she had the hand of a fairy—Pauline seemed to think that an -original remark.” - -“Perhaps it was the first time she had ever had it said to her,” -replied the blue-eyed girl. - -“Um—perhaps it was. She said carelessly, ‘Do you think so? Why, I -consider it quite large. I wear a number six.’ She was sorry for that -afterward.” - -“I suppose he looked in the other glove, and—saw that she had made a -mistake,” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“No, dear. But, shortly after that, they made a bet of a dozen pairs -of gloves, and Pauline won. Oddly enough, she didn’t know it until the -gloves arrived. They were number six, and—” - -“Pshaw, she could exchange them for a larger size; he would never know -the difference,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“Not in this case, dear. He had had her monogram embroidered on the top -of each pair. And now he is offended that she does not wear them!” - -“How exactly like a man,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. -“Now, I have too high a regard for truth to—” - -“Waste it on such a little thing as that? I know,” said the brown-eyed -blonde. “Well, I hope Pauline’s mishap will be a warning to you.” - -“She might say that she could not accept such a gift from a masculine -friend,” thoughtfully suggested the girl with the classic profile. - -“But she had thanked him very prettily, and said they were just her -size, and how did he know it? before she discovered that she could not -exchange them! Oh, I just don’t see any way out of it. I told Tom about -it, and he said, ‘Pshaw, let her tell him the truth, and be done with -it.’ And yet Tom is very clever—for a man.” - -“Indeed he is,” said the blue-eyed girl, warmly, “he is one of the few -people who always understands a joke when I tell it. Just because I -leave out a little bit of it, some people—” - -“Oh, girls,” cried the girl with the classic profile, “I’ve been -waiting for a good chance to tell you that Eunice is married!” - -“Is it possible?” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “I remember that -she always said people ought to know each other very well before they -_were_ married. That was why she went for a long visit to that Kansas -girl whose brother was so much in love with her. She married _him_, I -suppose.” - -“Why—er—no. You see, he asked her, and she said she could not give him -an answer until she concluded her visit. They would know each other -much better then.” - -“And she refused him, after all?” said the girl with the Roman nose. - -“Well, no. For some reason he failed to renew his offer, after her -visit was over. She had known the man she married exactly three weeks -when they became engaged.” - -“And the engagement lasted?” - -“Just a month, dear. And she was so busy all the time with the -trousseau that she hardly had time for a word with him.” - -“Perhaps it was just as well,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “Has the man -she married any money?” - -“I suppose so. He was thirty-four, and a bachelor. A very poor man -would have married long before he was as old as that. By the way, -speaking of the abuse of political power, Mr. Dickenharry tells Nell -that if he is really elected to the office he hopes for, she will have -to ask all sorts of people to her receptions, in order that—” - -“And what did Nell reply to that?” asked the blue-eyed girl. - -“Oh, she just smiled and let it go. It will be much easier to manage -all that after they are married. She says he is so busy now that she -doesn’t like to thwart him unnecessarily. Nell is always so thoughtful -of the feelings of others.” - -“Indeed she is,” said the president. “Anyhow if she is obliged to ask -all those awful people to her receptions, she can snub them thoroughly -if they accept. Oh, she is just the ideal wife for a politician; how -she will help him!” - -“That is just what she says herself,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin, “and she also says that she wants to join this club as soon -as her trousseau is off her mind. She thinks our debates on political -subjects will be of great benefit to her. In the meantime, she wants me -to make notes of the discussions, and let her have them.” - -“Yes, and let Mr. Dickenharry make use of all our original ideas in his -speeches!” cried the president, hotly. “I am surprised at you, Emily, -for—” - -“Oh, I didn’t say I meant to do it, dear; I only said she wanted me to. -It is so much easier to promise a thing, and then forget it, you know. -Girls, I went to see dear old Mrs. Pepperly yesterday, and—” - -“What, that cross, disagreeable woman!” cried the brown-eyed blonde. -“What on earth made you do such a thing?” - -“Oh, I always liked her, dear. When I got there, I was _so_ surprised. -Her son is home from Mexico on a visit, and—” - -“Why, don’t you remember, Emily, I told you that on Sunday?” said the -president. “I mentioned that he had made a lot of money there, and—” - -“How strange of me to forget it; I believe I do remember it now. We -used to be quite friends before he went away, too; which makes it all -the stranger. Do you know, I’m afraid I shall have to accept one of -those lovely Mexican opals he brought with him, or hurt his feelings! -I’d hate to do that, too, when I haven’t seen him for so long.” - -“By the way, what is Mrs. Pepperly’s number?” asked the brown-eyed -blonde. “I—I have been meaning to call on her for ever so long. What a -clever, original woman she is!” - -“Yes, do go. She said she expected you would come to see her now. -I’m afraid you will not have an opportunity to see the opals though. -Her son has given all the rest of them to her, and they are at the -jeweler’s being set. And, by the way, he insisted so that I had to let -him have mine set for me. I don’t know what Dick will say, but really -I could not hurt the feelings of such an old friend by refusing—and of -course he knows nothing of Dick!” - -“For my part, I consider opals unlucky,” said the brown-eyed blonde. -“I wouldn’t wear one for anything!” - -“I’ve heard others say the same thing, dear,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin; “but luckily they were people who were not -likely to have the chance! So far as I am concerned, the good luck -of receiving such a handsome present will quite overbalance anything -unpleasant which might follow!” - -“Nobody ever had such ill luck as I have, and I never owned an opal -in my life,” wailed the girl with the classic profile. “You know how -unpleasant my Aunt Clara is, don’t you? Well, the poor old soul seemed -so lonely in that great big house that I asked her to make me a nice -long visit, knowing that she intended to go abroad soon, and—” - -“She might take you along. Good!” said the girl with the Roman nose. -“Did she accept?” - -“She did. Said she would stay three whole months. At the end of that -time, she expects to marry a delicate clergyman with three grown -daughters, and take the whole party to Europe.” - -“And that is all the compensation you receive for thinking of others!” -cried the girl with the Roman nose. “Shall you let her come?” - -“I shall not. I shall tell her that unless she hears from me within two -weeks, she may know that I am down with a threatened attack of scarlet -fever. She has a horror of illness, and wild horses couldn’t drag her -here after that. But I shall have an exciting time with my sire, if he -ever finds it out!” - -“Humph, your father may never find it out,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses; “and if he did, you could simply say that you really -thought you were getting scarlet fever, and only concealed the fact -from him to save him anxiety.” - -“Pardon me, but you forget that I am a younger daughter. Papa has -already had so much experience with my sisters that I have to be very -careful in my explanations. This thing of being the third daughter is -as bad as marrying a widower—worse, for that is voluntary.” - -“Not always—on the part of the widower,” said the blue-eyed girl. -“Dear, dear, how queer some things are! I know a pair of twins, and one -of them is called an old maid, the other a young widow. If anybody can -explain—” - -“Pshaw, I know a brother and sister who have hair of the same identical -shade. He is called red-headed while she is a Titian blonde,” said the -girl with the Roman nose. - -“And I went to school with a girl who was always called snub-nosed -by everybody but the man she married,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin; “he said her nose was ‘tip-tilted, like the petal of a -flower.’ Can you explain that?” - -“Yes,” said the president, shortly, “she has money. Oh, girls, I went -to the photographer’s last week, and I haven’t had the courage even -to snub my sister-in-law since I got the proofs. Indeed, sometimes I -almost feel grateful to Tom for marrying me—though of course I don’t -let him know that. You have no idea how I felt when—” - -“Oh, yes, I have,” said the blue-eyed girl, with a shudder. “I once -knew an awfully nice man, who turned out to be an amateur photographer. -He took two hundred and seventy-five pictures of me one summer, and I -used to know just who my enemies were. They would pretend that they -recognized me in them all!” - -“That’s nothing,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “I once -appeared as Cinderella at a charity entertainment, and an amateur -photographer took a picture of me in costume. My foot was thrust -forward, and oh, girls, it looked the size of a pumpkin. And the -photographer actually took credit to himself because the face was an -excellent likeness!” - -“I was once photographed by an amateur,” said the brown-eyed blonde; -“he said my picture was his masterpiece. I always keep it on my -dressing table during Lent,” she added. - -“I once knew an amateur photographer quite well,” said the girl with -classic profile, “but for each photograph he took of me I made one of -him!” - -“With the result—” said the president. - -“That he gladly bartered his collection for mine. Somehow, we haven’t -been very good friends since. I often think things might have turned -out very differently if he hadn’t bought that camera;” and she sighed, -softly. - -“Well, girls,” said the president, “I am afraid that we must adjourn, -though I had hoped we might find time for a social session after -the day’s work was concluded. However, I promised both Tom and the -dressmaker that I’d meet them at five o’clock. She won’t wait, and he -will; so I—” - -“But why not make him go to the dressmaker’s with you,” said the -brown-eyed blonde. - -“Because I want to tell him just what I think of his behavior—smoking -in the drawing-room, just because I happened to be out. If he once -heard Madame contradict me in the way she does, I could never hope to -produce any impression on him again.” - -Emily and Dorothy walked home in silence, and the former noticed, with -alarm, that Dorothy did not attempt to protect her skirts from the mud. -When they reached her door, she turned and said: - -“If I am not here when you come to-morrow, you may know that I have -gone to take up social settlement work, and devote my time to the poor. -If you never see me again, you may know that I forgive all my enemies. -It may make Frances feel better, though I must say that she does not -deserve it.” - -“And Jack, dear; what shall I say to him?” - -“If it is any comfort to him, you might say that I do not regret -my fruitless efforts to make peace with him. I hope you will think -of me sometimes at work among the poor and the afflicted. And now, -good-bye—perhaps forever!” - -Emily had walked perhaps a block, when she heard her name called once -more. - -“Yes, what is it,” she said. - -“If you know any one who wants a nice little dog, send him to me. I—” - -“What! You surely don’t mean Clover?” - -“I just do. After what has happened to-day, I never want to see the -little beast again! And, Emily—!” - -“Yes, dear.” - -“If you were in my place, would you wear the blue or the geranium pink -gown at the dance to-night?” - - - - -Chapter X - -Woman as a Parliamentarian - - -“Oh, dear me,” said the president, “I don’t see why men can never -understand things.” - -“H’m,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “Are we to understand that you have -just discovered that fact?” - -“Of course not,” said the president, “but I’ve just had an argument -with my husband—that’s why I am late to-day, girls. He will insist that -this club ought to have a constitution and by-laws, and a lot of other -unnecessary things, in spite of the fact that we get along nicely just -as well without them.” - -“I suppose he would like to draft them for us,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “That is always the way with men. When they see -women doing anything well they always want to come in, and take the -credit of it.” - -“So they do,” said the girl with the classic profile. “I suppose he -would want us to have parliamentary rules, too—as if anybody would obey -them! Anyhow, it is only a man who can do but one thing at a time. I -suppose it is necessary in a club of men that only one person have the -floor at a time, and all that sort of thing.” - -“I suppose it is,” said the president, “no man that ever lived could -tell what anybody else was saying while he was talking himself. Well, I -only wish they could see how orderly our meetings are, and how well we -keep to the subject in hand, without any rules or regulations. By the -way, let us discuss ‘Woman as a Parliamentarian’ to-day. What do you -say?” - -“Oh, pshaw,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “you said the subject -was to be ‘Woman as a Factor in the Business World,’ and I was to speak -on it.” - -“Oh, well, you can use the same line of argument, anyhow; I forgot to -tell you that I had changed my mind. Girls, do be quiet while she -reads her paper on—” - -“Oh, but I am not prepared, anyhow,” said the girl with the Roman nose. -“I was obliged to stop in the midst of it to write the invitations for -my five o’clock tea. A nice job it was, too, for I just couldn’t get -all I wanted to say on a card!” - -“Why, I heard a man saying only the other day, that you write the most -charming notes he ever read,” said the girl with the classic profile. - -“Thank you for telling me, dear. I shall use the telephone exclusively -after this—the idea of living to know that everybody says when you are -spoken of, ‘Yes, what charming notes she does write.’ Think of knowing -that you are expected to be brilliant when you write to say you can’t -come to dinner because your face is swollen, or to ask how to take -coffee stains out of your new evening gown.” - -“I know all about that,” groaned the brown-eyed blonde; “once in an -evil hour somebody called me ‘vivacious,’ and I’ve cultivated three -wrinkles in trying to live up to it. Think of having to be vivacious at -a church sociable, or when the man to whom you have just been revealing -your views on the subject of friendship turns out to be engaged!” - -“Awful!” shuddered the girl with the eyeglasses, “but pity me, -all of you. People who like me always say that I am a delightful -conversationalist; those who do not, simply remark that I talk all the -time. Sometimes, when I am low-spirited, it seems to me that there is -not much difference between the two.” - -“Yes, but think of me!” moaned the girl with the dimple in her chin. -“Somebody once discovered that I had a ‘little head running over with -curls,’ I calculate that I have spent a fortune in patent curlers and -alcohol lamps since then!” - -“I suppose that is why you wouldn’t go to the seashore with me last -summer,” remarked the president. “Well, for my part, I only wish I knew -who it was that first called me a ‘nice little woman’—it’s as bad as -being named Smith or living in a row!” - -“Pshaw, I wouldn’t mind that a bit,” said the girl with the Roman -nose, “there’s nothing like a reputation for amiability—you can be as -ill-natured as you please, once it is gained.” - -“Humph, you seem to forget that I have a husband to remind me of -things,” said the president. “Well, there is one person I don’t envy, -and that is Barbara.” - -“Humph, I don’t think she is so beautiful,” said the girl with the -Roman nose; “for my part, I think her nose might be called a snub.” - -“Neither do I,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin; “the lower -part of her face is actually coarse.” - -“Say what you please,” said the president, “she has the reputation of -being a beauty, and if she doesn’t look as well as usual she just has -to stay at home. She has a cold now, and her complexion is awful.” - -“Is it?” said the girl with the Roman nose, “I must certainly stop in -to see her to-day. I never saw her when she had a really bad cold.” - -“And so shall I,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “she really ought not to -be neglected when she is ill.” - -“I shall go, too,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “And by -the way, Dick has been teasing for an introduction to her for ever so -long. This will be the very time to take him to call on her—when she is -certain to be at home, I mean.” - -“I understand,” said the president; “it is very thoughtful of you to -want to cheer up the poor thing. Girls, shouldn’t you love to see her -face when she finds that Emily has brought a strange man to call when -her complexion is in such a condition.” - -“Oh, I don’t suppose that she will mind Dick,” said the brown-eyed -blonde; “nobody else does, you know.” - -“Very true,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, sweetly. “Of -course he has eyes for nobody else when I am in the room; but I did -not expect you, Frances, to acknowledge as much.” - -“Why, Dorothy,” cried the president, “here you are, at last! It isn’t -like you to keep anybody waiting—that is, of course, except a man; they -are accustomed to it, and—” - -“Why, does Dorothy ever keep a man waiting?” said the brown-eyed -blonde, elevating her eyebrows. “I had understood that she usually met -them in the front hall when—” - -“Yes, dear, but then I am always dressed to see masculine callers. I -have so many, you know. Why, Evelyn, I would not have been late for the -world, but my new gown—” - -“I’m sure I don’t blame you for it, dear. I couldn’t have helped making -a dramatic entry in such a poem myself.” - -“But it wasn’t that which made me late, dear. I fancied there was a -tiny wrinkle in the back of the waist. After examining it in every -mirror in the house, I discovered that it was only the way I twisted -my shoulders to look at it, which made the wrinkle.” - -“Well, I am glad that your mind is at rest about it, anyhow,” said the -girl with the eyeglasses, “one’s back is so defenseless. Annie once sat -behind me at the theater, and I endured agonies lest the bow at the -back of my collar was crooked. When we came away, I found that she had -actually been so absorbed in the people on the stage that she didn’t -know I was there. I had been wanting to see that play for months, and, -to save my life, I couldn’t have told you a thing in it after I saw it.” - -“I know just how you felt,” said the president, “I once went to a -matinée with Eustace just before Tom and I were married, and I expected -to have great fun, because there was so much danger of being found out. -Toward the end of the first act, I heard that horrid Miss Blanque in -the seat back of me, saying, ‘Oh, Tom, what would she say if she knew!’ -I can tell you that my blood boiled when I thought of such duplicity, -and I was tempted to turn and wither them on the spot with a single -glance!” - -“And did you?” eagerly asked the girl with the classic profile. - -“Why—er, no. I thought Tom might ask why I had come with Eustace, -though that was very different.” - -“Very different, indeed,” said the blue-eyed girl. “And did you—” - -“Oh, I didn’t enjoy that play a bit. I told Eustace I had a headache at -the end of the second act, and—” - -“No doubt by that time it was true enough. Such duplicity in one whom -you trusted was—” - -“Yes. And he had always said he did not admire Miss Blanque at all. -Well, I went home and wrote him a scorching note. I said that but for -Eustace, I should never have discovered that he was flirting with -another girl while pretending to think of nobody but me!” - -“That was quite right. I hope he was ashamed of himself!” - -“Well, no; he wasn’t. He had been at a stockholder’s meeting all that -afternoon. My own father was there, and he called him as a witness! And -I actually had to explain why I had gone to the matinée with Eustace!” - -“Oh, my goodness, how awful!” cried the girl with the Roman nose. “But -you said you heard Miss Blanque call him Tom!” - -“So I did. It was Tom Dashaway who was engaged to Elaine. And wasn’t it -a joke? She never found him out at all!” - -“It is awfully hard to get ahead of a man,” sighed the girl with the -classic profile; “and it is the irony of fate that when one _does_ -succeed in doing it, the victory is usually of such a character that, -in order to retain it, one must say nothing at all about it!” - -“Very true,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “Oh, I am so enraged -with Harold that I feel ready to die! I had an engagement with him on -Saturday afternoon, and I forgot all about it and went out with Marie. -I never thought of him at all until I saw him coming up the street, -and then I dragged Marie into a shop. I was so excited that she thought -a mad dog was coming, and almost created a scene!” - -“And did he recognize you?” asked the blue-eyed girl. - -“I’m afraid so. He didn’t come, as usual, on Sunday; and I took the -dilemma by the horns, and wrote him a note, saying that I remained at -home all Saturday afternoon expecting him; and why didn’t he come, as -he had promised?” - -“Good idea!” said the girl with the dimple in her chin; “then, he would -think he had mistaken some one else for you. You could pretend to be -very much offended at that, and so snatch victory from the very jaws of -defeat.” - -“So I thought. But his reply—oh, I knew I should die of rage! It -said: ‘My dear Miss Marion: Pray pardon me for quite overlooking my -engagement with you on Saturday afternoon. Yes, I know you were at -home—for I saw you at the window as I passed!’ And as long as I live, I -shall never be able to tell that man what I really think of him!” - -“Never mind, you can tell everybody else—and that is almost as -satisfying,” said the president; “more so, perhaps; for then you need -not hear what he has to say in reply.” - -“I am so glad to see you looking so well to-day, Dorothy, dear,” -whispered the girl with the dimple in her chin; “it pleases me to see -that you still take an interest in dress, and—” - -“Pray, why shouldn’t I take an interest in dress? Really, Emily -Marshmallow, you are the queerest girl I ever did see! Here, you see -me trying to conceal my poor broken heart with smiles, and then you -begrudge me the slight pleasure I take in appearing decently clad. And -when I mean to go and teach in a free kindergarten—well, next week, -and wear a black gown with white collar and cuffs for the rest of my -natural life!” - -“I’m sure I don’t mean to begrudge you anything, dear. And Jack says -that he is sure that if you would just see him, he could explain the -whole thing—” - -“Of course, you have been on his side all along. That is the way of the -world; everybody sympathizes with the one who is in fault, and—” - -“He said that he was hurrying to catch up with you on the street -yesterday, and that Frances—this is what he says, dear—not knowing what -he was doing, called him to rescue her hat, which had blown away. By -the time he had done it, you were out of sight. You see, Dorothy, he -seems to fancy that you are—well, rather nice to Clarence, and—” - -“Oh, I thought Clarence was coming. So I am rather nice to the one -human being who really understands me, am I? Well, you may just tell -Jack Bittersweet that I shall keep on being nice to him as long as I -choose—and he might know me well enough by this time to be sure that I -shall keep my word!” - -“Dear me, Dorothy, you surely are not crying, are you?” cried the -brown-eyed blonde. “Do tell me what is wrong; perhaps I can help you.” - -“I am afraid not, dear. I was just telling Emily that there is so -much trouble in the world that I sometimes feel actually guilty when -I think of my own absolutely cloudless existence! By the way, have -you heard that Clarence Lighthed has just bought that pretty place in -Astor Street, which was for sale? He must think that my knowledge of -architecture is valuable, for he told his agent to make an offer for it -just because I admired it so much!” - -“Poor Effie Bittersweet,” said the president. “I—ah, I don’t know -what has made me think of _her_ just at this time, but Madame told me -yesterday that she had been obliged to alter all her gowns for her. -They are a full half-inch too loose, she says!” - -“Really? Is Effie ill?” cried the blue-eyed girl, in surprise. “How odd -that you never thought to mention it, Frances! I should have gone to -see her immediately, had I known it. Pray, tell her so when you see her -next.” - -“If you are so anxious to see her, why not go with me, and tell her so, -yourself,” said the brown-eyed blonde, dryly. - -“In this gown? and when all of hers are at the dressmaker’s! I couldn’t -think of doing such a mean thing. I only thought that as you are always -at her house, you could take a message for me; that is all.” - -“Tom says Clarence asked him the other day, if he didn’t consider that -the best thing a fellow could do was to marry some nice girl, and -settle down,” said the president, suddenly. - -“Yes? And what did Tom say?” asked the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“He must have said ‘yes,’ dear; otherwise he wouldn’t have dared to -mention the occurrence to me at all.” - -“What _I_ am wondering,” said the blue-eyed girl, innocently, “is: what -on earth made Clarence ask him such a question?” - -“Sheer curiosity, dear,” said the brown-eyed blonde, sweetly; “what -other reason could he possibly have had? By the way, girls, have you -noticed that Marie is showing great strength of character lately? She -has broken with Mr. Mushley, and actually refused to send back any of -his presents. She says the sight of them could not fail to remind him -of his loss, and she would rather have people speak unkindly of her -than cause him unnecessary pain!” - -“How sweet of her,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “I only hope he -will appreciate her consideration. Girls, what do you think Elizabeth -told me the other day? Why, that all the photographs of girls my -brother saw when he called on Fred belonged to a man with whom he used -to room, and he was only keeping them until he happened to run across -him again.” - -“And she believed him?” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, -scornfully. “How silly some girls are, to be sure! They believe -anything a man tells them. To be sure, Dick was telling me the truth -when he said that he only wrote all those sonnets to Clara as a joke; -but that was very different.” - -“Very different,” said the girl with the classic profile. “Girls, -I heard to-day that Jack Bittersweet is thinking of throwing up his -partnership, and emigrating to Australia. I beg your pardon, Dorothy, -did you speak?” - -“Yes, dear, I was about to say that I think ‘Woman as a -Parliamentarian’ is the most interesting topic we have ever discussed. -By the way, I wonder if the climate of Australia is as unhealthy as -some people think! I—I am so fond of Effie that I should hate to have -anything happen to her brother.” - -“I think Effie could bear it, dear,” said the president, “even in her -present state of health. She says Jack is so cross that a hyena would -be amiable by comparison.” - -“Jack Bittersweet cross!” cried the brown-eyed blonde. “Why, he is one -of the nicest fellows I ever knew, and—” - -“But after all, you are hardly a judge of masculine dispositions, -dear,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “Your acquaintance -with the sex has been so limited, you know. Oh, Evelyn, I’ve been -intending to ask you if we can’t take up theosophy, and discuss it -thoroughly at one of our meetings in the near future. I am so anxious -for a thorough knowledge of it.” - -“Indeed we can,” cried the president, heartily. “You don’t know how -pleased I am to hear you say that, Emily,—well, if there is one thing -this club can safely pride itself upon it is its thoroughness; and I am -sure that is more than most organizations can do—!” - -“I know it,” said the blue-eyed girl; “why, my father belongs to a -club which has taken six months to study the financial problems of -Europe and the United States. They are not yet through discussing the -subject—and yet they have the temerity to call themselves students!” - -“I hope you have pointed out to them the superiority of our system -over—” - -“Well, no, dear; somehow it does not seem wise to discuss such a -subject with one’s father. Dear, dear, do you suppose that girls were -so very different in the days when our fathers were young?” - -“Humph, no,” said the girl with the Roman nose, “but they were much -more afraid of remaining single. Besides, our fathers were young, too, -in those days, and ever so much easier to please. Still,” she added, -thoughtfully, “I don’t know that it is altogether that. No one is so -easily subjugated as an elderly man who has become a widower. It is so -long since girls have really tried to make themselves agreeable to him, -that all their little ways are new to him.” - -“H’m, yes—unless he has grown daughters of his own,” said the -brown-eyed blonde. - -“I don’t see what difference that makes. They don’t try their little -ways of—of being nice on _him_; and seeing them tried on some one else -is very different.” - -“Isn’t it?” said the girl with the classic profile. “Now, for instance, -it is very interesting to have a man pay one compliments; but how it -does bore one to hear him say the very same things about another girl!” - -“Doesn’t it? and yet, such is the selfishness of man, that he expects -one to be as much interested,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. - -“Oh, girls,” cried the girl with the dimple in her chin, “you know that -old Mrs. Myllons is always making presents to Barbara and me! Well, one -day in the beginning of the season she called for me to go shopping -with her. Of course, I went. Now, it was not long after Barbara had -encouraged her to give me that awful picture of Burns, and I was as -eager for her to select a present for Barbara as for me. I knew I could -direct her choice in either case. To my joy, she stopped to look at -silks, and her choice fell upon a hideous piece of green which would -demolish Barbara’s complexion completely—and I really think that girl -would sooner part with her life than her complexion. I managed to -convey to Mrs. Myllons my personal preference for a lovely pink which -cost a dollar less a yard, while encouraging her to buy the green. You -see she was planning her reception, and Barbara and I were to assist -her on that occasion.” - -“So she took it, did she?” said the president. “I only hope I may see -Barbara in the green!” - -“You never will,” wailed the girl with the dimple in her chin—“it was -for me! Mrs. Myllons sent it with a lovely note complimenting me on my -unselfishness in wishing Barbara to have the handsomer piece. I dare -not refuse to wear it at the reception; and my own father actually says -it serves me right for trying to play a joke on Barbara!” - -“You must not expect sympathy from your father, dear,” said the girl -with the Roman nose; “he will expect you to wear that gown all season, -to save buying another. And nothing will ever happen to it, either,” -she added. “It is only the gown that is dearer to you than life itself -which has a fatal attraction for cups of coffee or fowls carved by -inexperienced hosts!” - -“Did I ever tell you of the awful thing which happened to me last -winter?” said the girl with the classic profile. “I believe not, -though; we hadn’t started our club then. Well, I just had to have a -new gown, and I was so afraid that my father wouldn’t give it to me -that I got it without saying a word to him. I knew that even if there -was a cyclone over the bill I’d have the gown anyhow. That being the -case, I got a much handsomer one than I would have chosen under other -circumstances.” - -“Quite right,” said the president; “if there must be an unpleasant -scene, better have it over something which will fully repay one.” - -“So I thought. Well, the gown only came home the evening of my sister’s -dance; and I really wanted to enjoy that, so I decided not to give papa -the bill until the next day, though the dressmaker was in a great hurry -for her money.” - -“They always are,” sighed the president. - -“Yes. I was having a lovely time until supper was served, and then -Mr. Rocksby emptied a plate of lobster salad over the whole front -of my new gown! Florence was near; she never got farther away from -him than—than she could help; and—well, you all know how he admires -amiability! He apologized profusely, and I, smilingly, said, ‘Oh, it -doesn’t make the least difference. The gown is of no value at all, and -I should probably never have worn it again, anyhow.’” - -“How lovely of you!” said the blue-eyed girl. “It must have made a deep -impression upon him.” - -“H’m, I don’t know about that; but it did upon me. I happened to turn -my head just then, and papa was at my elbow! I’d rather not tell you -the things he said when I gave him the bill for that gown the next -morning!” - -“We can all guess,” said the blue-eyed girl, with a shudder. “But -wasn’t Mr. Rocksby awfully nice to you after that?” - -“No, he wasn’t. He said that the girl who cared nothing for the -destruction of such a handsome gown was too extravagant to make a good -wife for a poor man! And the hardest part of it all was the fact that -he must have lots of money, else he never on earth would speak of -himself as ‘a poor man!’” - -“Let us hope your father never found that out,” said the president, in -devout tones. - -“But he did. He overheard Mr. Rocksby saying it to Florence; and that -was one of the things he mentioned when I gave him the bill.” - -“You poor dear!” said the president. “I declare it really depresses -me to hear of such persistent ill-luck. Well, girls, since we have -thoroughly exhausted our subject, I think we may just as well adjourn.” - -The blue-eyed girl went home with the girl with the dimple in her chin, -and after they had begun to sip their tea, she said: - -“Is it true that Jack intends to go to Australia unless our quarrel is -made up?” - -“He—he _says_ he will,” was the cautious reply. - -“Then, I want to know what you intend to do in the matter?” - -“What I—intend to do in the matter?” she gasped. - -“Yes. Of course it is thoroughly in your hands. I have not made a -single move without consulting you, and being guided by your advice. -And if the quarrel is never made up, and I die of a broken heart, it -will be entirely your fault!” - - - - -Chapter XII - -The Club Investigates Theosophy - - -“We will discuss to-day: ‘What Theosophy Really Teaches,’” said the -president, as soon as she could make herself heard. “You expressed an -earnest wish to study it,’ Emily, and—” - -“Did I?” asked the girl with the dimple in her chin, looking surprised. -“I had quite forgotten it. However, I have been so busy with my new -hats and the chairmanship of a committee appointed to instruct tenement -house mothers as to the best method of bringing up children, that I -have had no time for anything else.” - -“And no wonder,” said the girl with the classic profile. “How grateful -those poor ignorant people must be for your instruction!” - -“M—I don’t know about that. At times, I am very much discouraged. One -woman said she would gladly allow her children to wear two fresh aprons -a day, if I would pay for the washing of them. Another said that she -had already raised six children without my assistance, and she believed -she could worry on without it a bit longer. Still another was so stupid -that she couldn’t be made to understand how I, who had never had any -children, was able to offer her such valuable suggestions.” - -“As if it depended on experience,” said the president. “The theory is -ever so much more important.” - -“That was what I said to the woman who— You knew that I had resigned -from that same committee, didn’t you?” said the girl with the Roman -nose. - -“Why, no; this is the first I have heard of it. And you were so -enthusiastic, too! What on earth has made you change your mind?” - -“A woman. She—” - -“Oh! I thought, perhaps, it was a man,” said the brown-eyed blonde. - -“No. I am not as easily influenced as you are, dear. This woman lived -up six flights of the dirtiest stairs I ever saw. I wondered at the -time why she didn’t ask the landlord to have an elevator put in; -probably she hadn’t thought of it. She lived in two rooms, and you -never saw such awful poverty in your life. I thought, as she was so -awfully poor, she couldn’t have much feeling, so I told her plainly -that she could never expect her children to love and honor her if she -did not at once give them each a hot bath, and put up fresh curtains -and a pot or two of flowers in the windows. Everybody knows how cheap -curtains are nowadays—not the real lace ones, of course, but—” - -“Tamboured muslin and all that,” said the president. “Was she grateful -for your interest in her?” - -“I fear not. She looked at me, earnestly, and said: ‘You’ve been to one -of them, haven’t you? I’ve always wanted to see somebody that had!’” - -“Was the woman mad?” - -“I was afraid so, and I began to back out of the door, when she called, -‘Mary Ellen! oh, Mary Ellen! come right in here this minute! Here is a -lady who has been to one of them there beauty doctors we was talking -about yesterday! She must be awful old, for she’s brought up a lot of -children; and come here to teach me how to raise mine; and if that -beauty doctor ain’t fixed her up so she looks real young!’” - -“And did Mary Ellen come?” asked the girl with the dimple in her chin, -sympathetically. - -“I don’t know. I didn’t wait; but I am almost sure I heard several -people laughing as I came down-stairs. After this, I shall devote my -energies to foreign missions or something like that. If the heathens -are not grateful for my efforts in their behalf, they at least express -themselves in a tongue I don’t understand; and they are too far away -for me to hear them, even if I _could_ understand!” - -“Their ingratitude is awful,” wailed the president. “Well, I’m glad -you have told me all this. Otherwise, I never could have had courage -to tell you my last experience with visiting the dwellers in the slums -as a member of the ‘Society for Procuring Better Ventilation in Other -People’s Bedrooms!’ I called on one woman, who really seemed impressed -by my arguments; she was quite polite, and never took her eyes off my -bonnet all the time I was talking to her. I was so pleased with her -that I gave her my address, and told her I would let her have a lot of -pamphlets on the subject, if she would send for them. I knew I could -not get one of my maids to carry them into that district, and besides -her husband could easily come for them. He was a street paver, and no -doubt would be glad to get the exercise.” - -“Of course,” said the blue-eyed girl. “Did he come?” - -“No. But she herself walked in on my reception day a few weeks later. -She wore a bonnet which was a perfect caricature of mine. She said she -hoped I would forgive her for delaying the returning of my call so -long; and didn’t I think my reception-room was too warm to be quite -healthy?” - -“Did you ever hear of such impertinence! and in your own house, too!” -said the girl with the eyeglasses. “What did the other members of the -society say?” - -“I don’t know. I resigned, by telephone, as soon as Tom and the doctor -succeeded in bringing me out of my fainting fit.” - -“And no wonder,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, -sympathetically. “And yet, people complain that we take so little -interest in the poor! Only a real philanthropist can appreciate the -rebuffs we receive. The only thing which helps us to bear them, is the -knowledge that we are doing such incalculable good.” - -“It is very sweet and good of you to feel so,” sighed the girl with the -eyeglasses. “I don’t know that I am quite so magnanimous, myself. Oh, -Catharine, dear; you were speaking of Mr. Rocksby the other day. Did -you ever hear the end of his affair with Florence?” - -“Why, no,” said the girl with the classic profile. “I only knew that it -_had_ an end. How on earth did you find out about it?” - -“I heard that she and Effie had fallen out, and I asked Effie all about -it. Of course she was glad enough to tell. It seems that there was a -dance at the club in Arcadia, and Florence went out to stay with the -Brownstones and attend it. Mr. Rocksby happened to meet her at the -station, and went out with her, intending to return by the next train. -It turned out that there was no train back until midnight, so the -Brownstones invited him to dine and go to the dance with them. They -even brought out a dress coat of Mr. Brownstone’s for him to wear, and -Florence told Effie that he looked as if he weighed twenty pounds less -when he put it on.” - -“It’s really wonderful the way people always help Florence along,” -sighed the girl with the classic profile. “Nobody ever does such things -for _me_.” - -“I fancy Florence wishes they hadn’t for _her_, dear. Well, he was -lovely to her at the dance, and after a while he coaxed her out on the -balcony for a quiet talk. Before she fairly knew what he was about, he -had fallen heavily on his knees and said, ‘Florence, I—’ when she heard -the queerest sound, and he sprang to his feet, with his hand on his -back!” - -“Good gracious, I hope the poor old soul hadn’t hurt himself?” - -“No; I believe not. But he had split Mr. Brownstone’s dress coat from -top to bottom. And though Florence tried her very best, she never could -coax him to finish the sentence he had just begun!” - -“Poor Florence! No wonder she says now she thinks a man looks better -in cycling garb than anything else. The sight of a dress coat must be -enough to make her ill.” - -“I should think so,” said the president. “By the way, speaking of -theosophy, I wonder why its stout and elderly devotees wear such -flowing white robes? The younger ones seem content with short hair and -general dowdiness.” - -“Good gracious, you will be wondering next why politicians always wear -diamonds or why dressmakers invariably appear in old-fashioned gowns,” -said the girl with the Roman nose; “and I must say, frankly, that I -can’t answer either of those questions. By the way, Evelyn, I suppose I -am to congratulate you. I hear that Tom has just inherited ten thousand -dollars.” - -“I don’t know whether you may congratulate me, or not,” said the -president. “Sometimes, I—” - -“Oh! Then, there is no truth in the report?” - -“Yes, it is true enough, but I don’t know whether I am to be -congratulated or not. You see, I was getting along very well as we -were, and now I see that I need a lot of things I never thought of -before—more than the extra income could possibly cover—and I shall be -absolutely wretched unless I can have them.” - -“But you will have some of them, anyhow, won’t you?” - -“I’m not sure. Tom talks now of putting all the money into his -business. In that case he will be obliged to work harder, because he -will have more at stake; he says, also, that I shall have to be more -economical than ever because every cent will be needed to extend his -operations. On the whole,” she added, thoughtfully, “I am rather sorry -his aunt is dead. It was ever so much nicer when she was living, and I -could spend the expected legacy royally, in imagination, at least.” - -“You poor dear; to think of having cause to regret the death of a -wealthy relative,” said the blue-eyed girl, “but—er—couldn’t Tom put -you on the pay-roll as a clerk, or something?” - -“I did suggest that; but he said he’d rather pay me a salary to stay -out of the office. I haven’t spoken to him since.” - -“Do you know, I always think it a mistake to stop speaking to any one,” -said the blue-eyed girl; “it seems unkind, and then one loses the -opportunity to say unpleasant things to them, too.” - -“I believe you are right,” said the president. “No married man seems to -appreciate speechless indignation, anyhow.” - -“I must see you alone a moment, Emily, dear,” whispered the blue-eyed -girl. “Can’t you come with me down to the other end of the room, and -let me pretend to straighten your hair?” - -“With pleasure, dear,” replied Emily, but there was no alacrity in her -voice; “only we must not stay too long lest Frances suspect something.” - -“What if she does? She would only think we are talking about her—and -I doubt if that would make her particularly comfortable. It is about -Jack. Perhaps, you can pardon his behavior, but for me the last link -which bound us is broken, and I feel now that I can start for India as -a missionary without a pang!” - -“My goodness, what has he done now? I’ve been afraid all along, -Dorothy, that you would put off the reconciliation too long. While he -confines his attentions to Frances, it is all right; but some time he -will find out that there are a number of nice girls in the world, and—” - -“Frances has nothing to do with it,” she replied, with great dignity. -“It happened this way: I was coming home about dusk yesterday—you -remember how it rained, don’t you? Well, I was so miserable that I -didn’t even attempt to hold up my skirts—it was a kind of a comfort to -let them get thoroughly draggled. A gust of wind blew my umbrella to -one side, and I saw Jack and Mr. Bonds just ahead of me. By the way, -did you ever notice that—er—there is a certain likeness between those -two?” - -“I’ve always said they looked enough alike to be brothers. Don’t you -remember, dear, when you were first engaged to Jack, you wouldn’t speak -to me for two weeks because I mentioned the fact?” - -“No, I don’t remember. Well, all of a sudden, I felt that I could -forgive Jack all if I could just lay my head on his shoulder, and hear -him say that he was sorry.” - -“Oh, Dorothy, dear, I am so glad! He told me this morning that he—” - -“If you will kindly allow me to proceed, without interruption, I will -explain how that is now impossible. I was wondering how Mr. Bonds could -be gotten rid of, so that Jack could go home with me and apologize -comfortably before dinner; when he suddenly left him and ran up the -Vansmith’s steps. Jack was walking slowly, and I just shut my eyes, -and made a dash to catch up with him. My own voice sounded like a fog -whistle, as I said: ‘W—wait a moment; I—I wish to speak to you.’ And, -oh, Emily—” - -“You surely never mean to say that Jack wouldn’t stop when you called?” - -“It wasn’t Jack. It was Mr. Bonds; Jack had gone into the Vansmith -house! But, oh, Emily, if he really loved me, he would have known that -I was right behind him, ready to forgive and forget. I shall sail for -India some time next week, and if I never return, you—” - -“But, Dorothy, Jack is only too anxious to make up. He says that a -lover’s quarrel is worse than a Welsh rarebit for keeping a fellow -awake at night. And he told me to tell you—” - -“Well, Emily Marshmallow, if this is all the interest you take in -our discussion of theosophy, we might as well adjourn, and go to a -millinery shop or an afternoon tea,” said the president, with some -asperity; “and, after all the trouble I’ve taken in reading everything -the dictionary and the encyclopædia have to say on the subject, I think -you might at least pay attention to my remarks!” - -“Dear me, Evelyn, I really beg your pardon. I shall borrow Elise’s -note-book, and study it all out before I sleep. There is nothing so -productive of a good night’s rest as half an hour’s solid reading after -one is in bed. Why, the other night, I took a book on philosophy to -bed with me, and before I had read six sentences I was asleep. I never -woke till nine o’clock in the morning, and the gas was blazing all that -time. I doubt if I’d have waked then if somebody hadn’t knocked at my -door.” - -“It was the sweet consciousness of duty well performed,” said the girl -with the Roman nose. “Now, if your book had been a really interesting -novel, you would have been awake half the night.” - -“True,” said the girl with the classic profile, “and been as yellow as -a primrose in the morning. I often say that a few pages of really good -literature just before retiring is the best thing in the world for the -complexion. One girl I know says she always reads her Bible then; but I -don’t approve of that—if one falls asleep suddenly, allowing it to drop -heavily upon the floor, it is sure to awaken the other members of the -family. If I do that, my father—” - -“I know,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, plaintively. -“Mamma says that if I take any more solid reading to bed I may confront -papa with this month’s gas bill, when it comes in, for she absolutely -refuses to do it!” - -“Pshaw, men are all alike; though I didn’t use to think so,” said the -president. “Now, I always forget all about the topic for discussion -until half an hour before it is time to start for the club. A man would -say that he hadn’t time to prepare for it, but a woman’s courage never -deserts her. I am all ready at the appointed time, even if I have to -tell the cook to have anything she chooses for dinner. Now, Tom thinks -I ought to be ready by the day before, even if I have to give up a tea -or a luncheon to do it.” - -“The idea!” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “Really, women have so -many things to do nowadays that is a wonder they find time for them -all; and yet, men seem to expect them to be just as good housekeepers -as they were when they had nothing else to do. I regret to see that the -sexes have not progressed equally.” - -“Indeed they have not,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “Who ever heard of -the new man? And if there _was_ such a creature he would no doubt be so -effeminate that nobody would care anything for him.” - -“True,” said the girl with the classic profile, “sometimes, I fear -that Helen’s husband will develop such proclivities. Of course it is -only a harmless eccentricity which makes him sew on his own buttons—I -can overlook that. But the other day he was getting ready to go down -town while she was out on her bicycle. Just because she was wearing one -of his shirts and a collar and tie of his, he dressed up in that lovely -lace collarette of hers, and was actually going out with it on! What -would people have said of a man who appeared in such feminine attire!” - -“Goodness me, I hope he is not losing his mind,” said the president. -“However, if he is, Helen is always ready to supply him with a piece -of hers. By the way, girls, what queer questions men do ask! Several -of Tom’s friends dined with us last evening, and they actually wanted -to know why a stout woman always selects a tiny dog for a pet, while a -wisp of a woman will be tugging at the chain of an enormous mastiff. I -simply told them that they must not be so curious, for, though I would -not confess it to _them_, I really could not answer the question.” - -“And you were quite right,” said the blue-eyed girl, indignantly; “by -and by, they will actually expect us to give a reason for everything we -do! Which is palpably absurd, since we so often do things without any -reason at all!” - -“Well, luckily, we are not responsible for anybody,” said the girl -with the eyeglasses. “Oh! I just wouldn’t be a man for anything in the -world.” - -“Would anybody, if he could help it?” queried the brown-eyed blonde. -“Of course, they all pretend to like it, but one can easily see the -hollowness of the pretense. Why, they would not be half so anxious to -criticise our actions if they didn’t feel that we have the best of -things. Of course, I would not be a man for anything—” - -“Nor I,” said the president, “and have to give up my comfortable seat -in a street car every time a woman entered.” - -“But of course it is only right for them to give up their seats to us,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“Certainly, it’s right. Only I shouldn’t like to have to do it myself.” - -“Of course not. Or to have to pay for pretty things for somebody else -to wear. Or to have to drop a nice book, and go out in the rain to -escort home a girl who had been calling on some one else,” said the -girl with the Roman nose. - -“Yes. Or to have to buy candy for somebody else to eat,” said the girl -with the classic profile. - -“M’hm. Or to have the nearest woman manage one, without one being aware -of the fact,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “I know! Or to have to -fall in love with a girl, and marry her, just because she had made up -her mind that one should,” said the blue-eyed girl. - -“Yes. Well, really the poor things have a great deal to endure, though -many of their sufferings are mercifully hidden from them,” said the -girl with the dimple in her chin. “But, after all, we are very nice to -them, you know.” - -“Of course we are,” said the president; “we wouldn’t get nearly so -many things out of them, if we were not. Girls, I hear that Annie has -finally decided to marry Nelson.” - -“I thought she had done that long ago,” said the brown-eyed blonde. -“Talk of a woman not knowing her own mind. That man never—” - -“He knew his own mind well enough, dear. It was only about Annie’s that -he was doubtful,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “Annie -told me herself how it came to be settled. She said that she couldn’t -decide whether to accept him or not—” - -“Which means that she had done all she could, and was doubtful whether -he would do the rest,” said the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Perhaps so. At any rate it was still uncertain until last Tuesday. -He had been out of town for several days, and returned unexpectedly. -Annie had gone out to mail a letter, and just as she raised the lid of -the letter-box she saw him coming up the street toward her. As they -walked away together, she glanced down and saw that she still held her -letter in her hand, but her pocket-book was gone!” - -“Goodness, you don’t mean to say that she—” - -“I do. She said she knew at once that she must care a good deal for a -man whose sudden appearance was enough to make her post her pocketbook -instead of a letter—so she said ‘Yes.’” - -“As soon as he asked her,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “Well, what he -can see in _her_, I’m sure _I_ don’t know!” - -“What _she_ can see in _him_ puzzles me,” said the blue-eyed girl, -thoughtfully. “I don’t see how any girl can really love and honor a man -who wears red neckties; do you?” - -“For _my_ part, I can’t see what they see in each other,” said the -president, thoughtfully. “Well, I really think Annie ought to give me -a handsome present, for it was I who brought it all about.” - -“Mercy, did you speak ill of her to Nelson?” - -“No; but I told Tom the other day that I didn’t believe that girl would -ever get married. And when I make a remark like that about any girl, -she may as well set about selecting her trousseau, for somebody is sure -to propose to her at once.” - -“And yet, I doubt if Annie would be grateful to you, if you told her,” -said the blue-eyed girl, thoughtfully. - -“One must not expect gratitude in this world, dear. The consciousness -of having done one’s duty is reward enough for a right-minded person. -By the way, Emily dear, I hear that Dick says he will positively wait -no longer. You must give him a decisive answer one way or the other, or -he—” - -“Yes; but he hasn’t yet screwed up the courage to tell _me_ so, -dear. When he _does_, it will be time for me to make up my mind. I -do wonder,” she added, thoughtfully, “why a girl who has one lover -already, is sure to win the affections of another man?” - -“Cause and effect,” said the president, gloomily. “I never thought of -buying that new hat until I heard Helen tell the milliner it was too -expensive for her. After I got it home, I found it didn’t match a thing -I possessed. I just believe Helen said that before me for meanness, -knowing I would be compelled to buy it, then. And now the milliner -absolutely refuses to take it off my hands. I threatened to withdraw my -trade if she didn’t; but it had no effect. She knows I have more hats -already than I need for this season, and by the time they are all worn -out—and paid for—I shall have forgotten all about it.” - -“But why not pay your bill at once, and open another with somebody -else? That—” - -“I don’t care to let Tom see the old bill just now, dear. It wouldn’t -matter ordinarily, but since he inherited that money from his aunt he -is feeling unusually poor, and it might cause a family unpleasantness.” - -“How thoughtful you always are, Evelyn! Really, the study of theosophy -seems to have developed your character wonderfully. I do hope you will -explain it all thoroughly to me,” said the girl with the Roman nose; “I -am really so stupid that even after to-day’s discussion, I feel that I -do not fully understand it.” - -“Perhaps at some future time,” said the president, hastily. “I am sorry -to say that we really must adjourn now. My mother-in-law is coming -to dine with us, and I don’t want her poking about the house in my -absence.” - - - - -Chapter XII - -A Discussion and a Surprise - - -“‘Civic Organizations Among the Ancient Greeks,’ will be our topic for -to-day,” said the president. “And, oh, girls, I am so angry with Tom -that I would go right home to mamma, but for the fact that she always -agrees with him. Papa invariably thinks _I_ am in the right; but he -would say unpleasant things about Tom, and I shouldn’t like that, -either. The consequence is that I must just endure my martyrdom in -silence.” - -“But, what is wrong? Is it about that legacy from Tom’s aunt?” queried -the girl with the Roman nose. “Dear me, I often think it’s so hard that -really poor men are usually nicer than those that have money.” - -“I don’t see why you always think of money in connection with me,” said -the president. “Heaven knows, I am not mercenary, and I only want to -live well and dress properly, in order that people may see Tom is not -stingy. No, this is quite another matter. It all came from the topic -I selected for to-day. I was talking, rather learnedly, about ‘Civic -Organizations Among the Ancient Greeks,’ when Tom asked me suddenly -what ward I live in! Of course, I didn’t know—” - -“Why, neither do I,” said the brown-eyed blonde, “but it must be the -same one, for we both live on the north side!” - -“I really don’t know, either,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin. “I don’t see what difference it makes though, for I could ask the -clerk at the corner drug store if I needed particularly to know.” - -“Of course you could,” said the president, “and so could I. But, Tom -was awfully unpleasant—he couldn’t have been more so if we had been -married twenty years instead of two. He said he didn’t see any use in -my poking about among the civic organizations of ancient Greece, when -I did not know what ward I lived in.” - -“Humph! I suppose next thing he will be saying that he doesn’t see any -use in the Teacup Club,” said the girl with the classic profile, in -sarcastic tones. “A man will say anything when he is angry.” - -“Humph! I fancy he will hardly say anything like that, dear. He knows -it has its use, if it is only to make me look more leniently on his own -club. When we first organized it he complained a good deal about the -demands it made on my time and attention, and I just said: ‘Oh, very -well, dear, let us both give up our clubs, and spend all our spare time -at home together.’ After that, he held his peace on the subject.” - -“But you wouldn’t have given it up, would you?” asked the brown-eyed -blonde, anxiously. - -“Of course not—but Tom didn’t know that. By the way, Emily, what is -making Dorothy so late to-day?” - -“I fancy she is engaged,” replied the girl with the dimple in her -chin, demurely; “at least Jack Bittersweet was on his way to call on -her a couple of hours ago, and I suppose—Pardon me, Frances, did you -speak?” - -“I—I was about to say, ‘how nice’—for Dorothy, I mean. By the way, -girls, I—I am thinking of going to Omaha for a nice, long visit as soon -as I can get ready.” - -“But I thought you had already refused Lola’s invitation,” said the -girl with the dimple in her chin. - -“I—I had. But, really I have bought so many pretty things of late that -I can get ready for my visit without the slightest trouble, and as my -last visit was cut short, I—” - -“Yes, I remember that quite well, dear. I remember that you came home a -few days after Dorothy broke with poor Jack. But I don’t understand why -you have been embroidering so much table linen lately. You surely will -not need that for a visit to Omaha.” - -“Why, er—no. I—I shall take it as a present to Lola’s mother, I think. -You have no idea of how fond she is of me.” - -“Indeed, I have, dear,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, -warmly. “I’ve often noticed that married women who have no grown sons -_are_ fond of you. It is rather a pity, as things turned out, that you -cut your last visit short; I am really afraid, if you go now, that you -will miss Dorothy’s wedding.” - -“At any rate, dear, she will not miss it herself. Really, I think -the poor girl would have lost her mind if she had lost Jack. These -disappointments are so hard to bear that—” - -“I shall tell her that you said so, dear. I am sure she and Jack will -both—” - -“Oh, girls,” said the president, hastily, “do you suppose that Greek -women used actually to wear those dowdy gowns on the street? Of course -they would do very well for tea gowns, but—” - -“I don’t suppose anything of the kind,” said the girl with the Roman -nose. “It was chiefly the men who made the antique statues, wasn’t -it? Very well, then, the poor creatures had no idea of style, and just -reproduced the gowns they happened to admire themselves.” - -“True,” said the girl with the classic profile; “men always detest the -ruling fashion of the hour. And yet, they seem to think we dress to -please them,” she added, derisively. - -“I know it. And the women of ancient Greece were just like anybody -else, I suppose,” replied the girl with the eyeglasses. “However, if -they really wore white as frequently as they seem to, they must have -had more money than I have to pay the laundress.” - -“Yes, or the principal street of Athens—I forget the name of it, must -have been a good deal cleaner than State street,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin. “I don’t suppose, however, that the carving of -statues could have made much dirt, and really the ancient Greeks seem -to have done little else.” - -“At any rate their system of civic organization was—dear me, what was -it? I had it all written down on the back of an invitation to dinner, -and I must have lost it as I came along,” wailed the president. “Oh, -dear, what shall I do?” - -“Never mind, you can tell us what you remember,” said the girl with the -Roman nose, soothingly. “None of us know enough about it to detect the -fact if you _are_ wrong.” - -“It isn’t that; I’ve got it all at home in the old school book I copied -it from. But, as I say, it was on the back of an invitation to dinner, -and I can’t remember whether it was for next Tuesday or Thursday!” - -“Goodness me, that is really serious,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin; “but perhaps Tom will remember.” - -“Tom remember the date of an invitation to dinner! How little you know -about men. Why, he would tell me the wrong day, if he did remember, -just to escape putting on his dress coat and going with me.” - -“Humph! from what Helen says, you may be thankful that he goes at all. -Her husband does not. She says—” - -“Helen didn’t manage him properly at first, that’s all. When Tom first -began to declare he wouldn’t go to dinners, I would just say, ‘Very -well, dear, we’ll both remain at home, and tell our would-be hostess -the true reason why we didn’t come. And now, I often reap the benefit -of that Spartan policy. Of course, he is sometimes detained at the -office by important business, or even called off by a telegram just as -we are about to start. However, I always remember that he is only human -after all, and seldom revenge myself in any other way than by telling -him that Mr. Troolygood sat next me at table. Life will be a much more -complicated affair for me if that dear fellow ever takes it into his -head to marry.” - -“I think you are perfectly safe for some time to come, dear,” said the -girl with the classic profile, “his married sister, with whom he lives, -is anxious for him to marry. She has the habit of inviting any girl he -seems to admire, so constantly to the house that she soon loses all her -charm for him.” - -“No man likes courtship made easy,” said the girl with the Roman nose. -“Mr. Troolygood will surely die a bachelor unless he succeeds some day -in unearthing a girl whom his sister dislikes. That is hardly probable, -either, since he invariably admires a girl with money—a habit, by the -way, which I have also noticed in other young clergymen.” - -“It is not confined to young clergymen, dear,” remarked the girl with -the eyeglasses. “Talk about women being mercenary, I have often noticed -that men think much more of money than we do. We know that they must -provide for us somehow, and the doing of it is their affair.” - -“Oh, girls,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “what excellent -mental training we do receive at this club! Dorothy was wondering the -other day how we ever got along without it; and, indeed, so was I. A -reputation for being intellectual is the nicest thing in the world; -once you have it, you can be as silly as you choose, and people will -feel actually grateful to you for unbending. It has its drawbacks, -though. I find one must be more careful than ever to have cuffs and -gloves immaculate.” - -“True,” said the girl with the classic profile. “Girls, a college -professor asked me the other day why we always wear veils on the -street!” - -“And what did you reply?” queried the girl with the Roman nose. - -“To keep our faces clean! What did you suppose?” - -“Oh! I thought you told him the truth. However, the more intellectual a -man is the less he understands women. One of his students would—” - -“Know better than to expect the truth in reply to such a question? -Of course he would,” said the president; “but oh, girls, if an -octogenarian knew as much about us as a sophomore _thinks_ he does, -what a queer world this would be!” - -“Unpleasant rather than queer,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin. “Of course we understand men thoroughly; but that is a very -different matter.” - -“Oh, very different,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “But aren’t -they queer? Why, I once knew a man who called a girl a ‘most adorable -little flirt,’ and then felt very much aggrieved when she kept on -flirting after they became engaged!” - -“Lots of girls never have an opportunity to flirt until they _are_ -engaged,” remarked the girl with the dimple in her chin. “To some men, -an engagement ring on a girl’s hand has the same effect that a ‘Keep -off the grass’ sign has on children.” - -“True,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “Oh, Marion, shall you also -visit Lola this year?” - -“Not this century,” replied the girl with the eyeglasses. “Didn’t you -hear what happened the last time she was here?” - -“Why, no; except that she was to dine with you. What happened? Did she -discuss art in a monologue from soup to coffee? or, did—” - -“Yes, she did that; but it wouldn’t have really mattered, except -for—you see it was this way: when she was here last summer, she gave -me one of her, well, _she_ calls them paintings. I accepted it with -profuse thanks; and hung it in the darkest corner of the attic as soon -as her train was well out of Chicago. When I heard that she was coming -back, I fished the picture out of its corner, and gave it a prominent -place in the parlor, telling her it had been there all the time.” - -“Well, I’m sure she ought to be satisfied with that,” said the -president; “not many people care enough for Lola to hang her pictures -even temporarily on the parlor walls. The one she gave me is in the -cook’s bedroom—the poor woman has been complaining of insomnia lately.” - -“No wonder. Unluckily I forgot to coach my family, and when we came in -from the dinner table, my brother Frank joined us. You know Lola _is_ -pretty when she remembers to comb her hair and remove her painting -apron.” - -“Mercy on us! did he criticise her painting while she was present?” - -“No. He only said, ‘Hello, where did you get this new picture? I never -saw it before. Looks like the one that has been vegetating in the -attic!’” - -“You needn’t tell us the rest, dear; we all know Lola. It was too bad, -when you had only done it to spare her feelings, too!” - -“Dear! dear!” said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “I wonder -why the most hopeless artists are ever the most generous with their -productions? They seem to wish to give them away, whereas—” - -“Self-preservation, dear. When one has done something dreadful, one -dislikes to be constantly reminded of the fact!” said the girl with -the classic profile. “You know my eldest sister, don’t you? Well, her -husband has an awful temper, but he seldom gives Sophie any trouble. -Whenever he begins to be unpleasant, she says: ‘Isn’t it fortunate, -dear; if you should die, or we should ever separate, I could have a -good income, anyhow—I could just publish in book form the poems you -wrote to me before we were married!’” - -“And what then?” asked the president, breathlessly. - -“Oh, he kicks the dog or snubs his typewriter; but he never says -another word to Sophie.” - -“And yet, Sophie used to be considered dull at school,” said the -president, thoughtfully. “Well, that’s only another proof that even -genius needs a special opportunity.” - -“Speaking of opportunities,” said the girl with the eyeglasses, -“have you heard of Marie’s last mishap? No? I thought not. You know -that delightful young physician who cares nothing for society, and -declines all non-professional invitations, and never calls on a woman -under seventy. Well, Marie has developed neuralgia, grip, and nervous -prostration in swift succession, and he has been called in to attend -her. You see, it is this way: it gives her an opportunity to see him in -bewitching tea-gowns, and she studies new poses on the sofa when she is -not taking powders.” - -“Oh! And when are they to be married?” asked the president. - -“Never, dear. He says he had long loved her silently, and was trying to -summon up enough courage to tell her so. Now, however, he sees that she -is too delicate to make a good wife for a hardworking professional man!” - -“Humph! No wonder Marie’s little brother told mine he wants to go away -to boarding-school,” said the girl with the Roman nose. “Well, I always -did hate deceit. I never—” - -“By the way,” said the president, “I thought you had such a bad -headache that you could not go out to-day.” - -“That was when mamma wanted me to accompany her to a meeting at the -orphan asylum, dear. I felt ever so much better after she was gone.” - -“I am so glad you care so much for the club,” said the president. -“I gave up a luncheon at my mother-in-law’s, in order to come, -myself. I wanted awfully to go—all the other guests were lovely old -ladies—perfect walking encyclopædias on the subject of servants, and -the proper time to hunt moths or cut first teeth.” - -“Oh, I forgot to tell you, dear,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “Tom’s mother sent you a message by me that she had put the -luncheon off until Friday because you were so disappointed at your -inability to be present.” - -“Well, if she expects me to waste a whole morning on those old frumps, -she is very much mistaken, that is all. And you are no true friend of -mine, or you would have told her I had an engagement for that day, too!” - -“Humph! You seem to forget that I am afraid of her, too. She was my old -Sunday-school teacher, and she would as lief be disagreeable to me as -to you. Besides, it is not as if Tom had no unmarried brothers. One has -to consider her feelings, you know, and—” - -“Very true, dear. You always were charitable, Emily—I can just as well -go to bed with a cold on Friday. Well, I fear we must adjourn now. What -a profitable meeting we have had! I only wish Dorothy could have heard -some of the arguments that—” - -“Yes, indeed, Dorothy needs all of the good sense she can possibly -obtain in any form,” murmured the brown-eyed blonde. - -“Not now that she is about to be married, dear,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “However, I am sure that nothing save death or a -boil on her chin will ever keep her away from another meeting. She says -she considers the founding of this club her life work.” - -“And a noble one, too,” said the president, warmly. “Well, if ever a -girl entered upon matrimony with bright prospects, _she_ is that one. I -verily believe she could make Jack Bittersweet do anything she wanted, -whether he liked or not!” - -“At any rate, she has begun well,” said the brown-eyed blonde, sweetly. - -When the girl with the dimple in her chin reached the blue-eyed girl’s -home, she ran up the stairs to her friend’s room, two steps at a time, -and burst open the door. That young person was discovered, radiant with -smiles in spite of the traces of recent tears; she was seated at her -desk, and the waste basket was overflowing with crumpled sheets of her -best note paper. - -“Oh, you dear, Dorothy,” said the visitor, “tell me all about it, do! -I was dying to come earlier, but I wanted to see what Frances would do -when she heard that Jack was coming here, so I had to stay all through -the meeting. Evelyn says that no girl ever had brighter prospects in -marrying than you, and—” - -“Oh! then, they all know I am to be married, do they? Did Jack tell? I -thought he would hold his peace, because—” - -“Well, not exactly; but he told me that he was on his way here to ask -you to forgive him for everything he ever did! And he said he just -wouldn’t come away until you set your wedding-day, and so—” - -“Oh! he told you that, did he? Well, it is set, and—” - -“Dear old Jack, he must be the happiest fellow in the world, for he—” - -“M—I can’t say that he looked it when he went away; however, some -people have such a way of concealing their emotions. I never had -myself; I am as open as the day—anybody could know just what I intended -to do all the time.” - -“Of course; I told Jack how it would be from the start. But I don’t -see why he looked so melancholy when he came away. Didn’t you set the -wedding day early enough to please him?” - -“He said he didn’t want to know the day, and—” - -“Didn’t want to know the day of his own wedding! Why, the poor boy must -be crazy; he—” - -“The date of his _own_ wedding! Emily Marshmallow, are you out of your -mind? I said the date of _my_ wedding, and—” - -“Would you mind feeling my pulse, dear, or examining my eye to see if -there is a look of insanity in it! For really, I don’t see how you and -Jack can be married to each other on different days, unless you are -thinking of matrimony on the instalment plan; and that—” - -“Married to each other? Jack Bittersweet and I? Why, Emily Marshmallow, -you haven’t listened to a word I have been saying, when I have been -telling you for the last half hour I am to marry Clarence Lighthed, the -only man I ever loved, next month, and—” - -“Oh, Dorothy, don’t! If Jack did not ask you to marry him to-day, it -was only that he hadn’t the courage, and—” - -“He did, dear—twice. But you see, I had accepted Clarence an hour -before he came. Well, it is a great comfort to know that I never -encouraged poor Jack! You will bear me out in that, I know. And oh, -Emily, Clarence is the dearest person in the world! You can’t imagine -how happy first love makes one! I—I wouldn’t say a word to Frances now -if I saw her with one eyebrow a full half inch higher than the other. -But, what is the matter? You—” - -“I—I feel a little faint, dear; that is all. Did you—er, try to soften -the blow to Jack?” - -“I did. I advised him to marry Frances; said that I knew she would make -him happier than I could ever have done, and their marriage was the one -thing needed to complete my own happiness.” - -“Well, he wouldn’t marry her now if—not if she was a wealthy young -widow. Did—did Jack say anything about me?” - -“Why, er—yes; he seemed sort of offended with you for something. -I don’t know what it was. The only reference I made to you in our -whole conversation, was to tell him that you had seen all along that -I intended to marry Clarence. Of course if you had not been able to -make him understand that fact, it was his own stupidity, and not your -fault. Oh, I tell you, I always defend my friends—even before they are -attacked! But what is the matter? You look sort of queer?” - -“I—I was only wondering what they would say at the club! They—they -seemed to have an idea that you would marry Jack, and—” - -“Marry Jack Bittersweet! What on earth could have put such an idea into -their heads? I only hope, Emily, that you—” - -“Oh, no, dear; nothing of the kind. I—I merely told them that he was on -his way to ask you to marry him, and—” - -“Very thoughtful it was of you, dear. I only wish I could ask you to be -bridesmaid for your pains; but Clarence has somehow gotten an idea that -you are not a friend of his. There was no one else to oppose the match, -and I—I doubt if he’d have asked me quite as soon if you hadn’t; so I -shall try to forgive you, in time, for the things you have said about -him.” - -The girl with the dimple in her chin gasped, but her only reply, was: -“I really don’t know what the other members of the club will say. They—” - -“The club. I am so glad you mentioned it. There was a meeting to-day, -was there not? I was just writing Evelyn a letter when you came in, -saying—” - -“That you want us to meet twice a week after this! How nice; that is -just—” - -“No, dear; it was a letter of resignation I was writing. Dear Clarence -has such a horror of intellectual women, that I—” - -“But, Dorothy, you know when you founded the club, you said the -membership would be for life, and—” - -“Emily Marshmallow, I never said anything of the kind! And, if I _did_, -only a person of your colossal selfishness would expect me to waste my -time on a mere club when I want to devote eighteen hours a day to the -selection of my trousseau, and the other six to Clarence! And, if you -want to know my real opinion of the club, I consider it the greatest -bore among my social duties!” - - - PRINTED BY R. R. DONNELLEY - & SONS CO. AT THE LAKESIDE - PRESS, FOR WAY & WILLIAMS, - CHICAGO, U.S.A. MDCCCXCVII - - * * * * * - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Obvious punctuation errors repaired. This text uses both single -quotation marks and double quotation marks within dialogue. This was -retained as printed. - -Page 82, “nowaday” changed to “nowadays” (nowadays don’t intend) - -Page 216, “absense” changed to “absence” (bears my absence) - -Page 245, removed repeated word “heard” (you heard Miss Blanque) - -Page 296, “he” changed to “her” (criticise her painting) - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Teacup Club, by Eliza Armstrong - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEACUP CLUB *** - -***** This file should be named 50751-0.txt or 50751-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/7/5/50751/ - -Produced by Emmy, Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Teacup Club - -Author: Eliza Armstrong - -Release Date: December 23, 2015 [EBook #50751] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEACUP CLUB *** - - - - -Produced by Emmy, Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<h1 class="faux"><i>The</i> Teacup Club</h1> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 510px;"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="510" height="800" alt="Cover" /> -</div> -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> -<div class="maintitle"><i>The</i> -Teacup Club</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a><br /><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> - - - -<div class="bbox"> - -<div class="maintitle"><i>The</i><br /> -Teacup Club</div> - -<div class="center"><br /><br /> -BY<br /> -<span class="author">ELIZA ARMSTRONG</span><br /><br /><br /><br /> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> -<img src="images/emblem.jpg" width="150" height="160" alt="emblem" /> -</div> - -<div class="center"><br /><br /><br /> -<i>CHICAGO</i><br /> -WAY AND WILLIAMS<br /> -1897<br /> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="copyright"> -COPYRIGHT<br /> -WAY AND WILLIAMS<br /> -1897<br /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>NOTE</h2> - - -<p>A portion of the matter in this little book -originally appeared in <i>The New York Journal</i>, -and is used by the courtesy of W. R. Hearst, -Esq.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a><br /><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - - - - - - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<tr> -<td align="left" colspan="2"><small>CHAPTER</small></td> -<td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">I </td> -<td align="left">THE TEACUP CLUB IS FORMED</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">II </td> -<td align="left">THE CLUB DISCUSSES WOMAN IN POLITICS</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">III </td> -<td align="left">MAN’S REAL ATTITUDE TOWARD THE PROGRESS OF WOMAN</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">IV </td> -<td align="left">CONCERNING THE HEROINE OF TO-DAY</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">V </td> -<td align="left">THE CLUB SETTLES SOME CURRENCY PROBLEMS</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">VI </td> -<td align="left">THE PIONEER NEW WOMAN</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">VII </td> -<td align="left">WOMAN IN LEGISLATION</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">VIII </td> -<td align="left">AN EXECUTIVE MEETING</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">IX </td> -<td align="left">ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF POLITICAL POWER</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">X </td> -<td align="left">WOMAN AS A PARLIAMENTARIAN</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">XI </td> -<td align="left">THE CLUB INVESTIGATES THEOSOPHY</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td align="right">XII </td> -<td align="left">A DISCUSSION AND A SURPRISE</td> -<td align="right"><a href="#Page_285">285</a></td> -</tr> -</table> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a><br /><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter I<br /> - -<small>The Teacup Club is Formed</small></h2> - - -<p>“You can never be sure of pleasing a -man,” sighed the blue-eyed girl, who was -calling on her dearest friend; “that is, if -you try to please him,” she added reflectively.</p> - -<p>“I suppose not,” replied the girl with -the dimple in her chin, “unless you succeed -in concealing from him the fact that -you are trying to please him.”</p> - -<p>“H’m; yes, I suppose there is something -in that. However, we ought not to be -hard on the poor things. The whole truth -with the sterner sex is that they are never -really practical. They—”</p> - -<p>“How clever you are!” cried the girl -with the dimple in her chin, admiringly. -“Sometimes it does seem a pity that you -are to marry Jack, instead of studying law,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -or—theosophy or something like that. -Really, a very little study would fit you for -the bar, but of course Jack—”</p> - -<p>“I don’t intend to marry Jack,” said -the blue-eyed girl, calmly.</p> - -<p>“O, my goodness, does he know that?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know whether he knows that -or not; but he does know that I’ve broken -my engagement with him. I sent back his -ring, and—”</p> - -<p>“Dear, dear; that ring must have already -cost its real value in messenger fees alone. -Let me see, how many times have you sent—”</p> - -<p>“And you may know that I am in earnest -when I tell you that I am to pour tea for -Nell to-morrow, and everybody will comment -on its absence.”</p> - -<p>“Do you want me to come over and -stay with you to-night, dear?” queried the -girl with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“No, thank you, dear. I can just as -well talk it over with you now. Of course -it was Jack’s fault.”</p> - -<p>The girl with the dimple in her chin was -silent.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Well, Emily Marshmallow, I did think -that you, of all people, would sympathize -with me, and—”</p> - -<p>“Look here, Dorothy; of course I sympathize -with you, but you remember -when you quarreled with Jack the last -time I—”</p> - -<p>“I remember the last time that Jack -quarreled with me,” replied the blue-eyed -girl, with dignity.</p> - -<p>“Well, I sympathized violently with you, -and the consequence was that you wouldn’t -speak to me for a month after you made up -with him!”</p> - -<p>“O, of course, if you really do sympathize -with me, I—”</p> - -<p>“You might know that. But tell me all -about it. Is it that you want a new ring -which is too expensive for anything save a -peace offering? Or is Edwin coming home -on a visit? Or has—”</p> - -<p>“Nothing so frivolous, my dear; this is a -serious matter. Jack—that is, Mr. Bittersweet, -joined a new club without even letting -me know that he meant to do it. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> -shouldn’t have minded if he had only told -of it beforehand—”</p> - -<p>“Of course not, dear; for then you could -have made him give it up!”</p> - -<p>“Exactly. Well, when I did find it out, -I told him that I plainly saw he did not -really love me, and that it was lucky I had -discovered the fact before it was too late!”</p> - -<p>“How very original you are!” murmured -the girl with the dimple in her chin. -“Go on, dear.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is all over and I never was so -hap—happy in my life! Where is my -hand—handkerchief? I—I got s—something -in my eye on the way here, and—”</p> - -<p>“Here it is, dear, and let me draw down -the window shade, so the light will not -hurt your poor eye.”</p> - -<p>“You needn’t, dear. I saw them coming -up the street a minute or two ago and -all I’ve got to say is, that if Jack Bittersweet -thinks he can make me jealous by -parading up and down with a made-up -thing like Frances, he is very much mistaken!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I suppose you have coaxed Edwin’s sister -to write and tell him that you have -broken with Jack?” queried the girl with -the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“No, I haven’t. I did that last time -and he was so unpleasant after we made -up!”</p> - -<p>“Who was unpleasant? Jack?”</p> - -<p>“Of course not, goosie. A man is -always nicer than usual just after making -up. No, it was Edwin; he—men are so -awfully selfish, you know! Just because I -was nice to him while I was angry with -Jack, he imagined I had treated him badly—did -you ever hear of such a thing? How -did he ever expect me to bring Jack to his -senses in time for the opera season, without -a little jealousy as an incentive?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you know, men are so awfully -vain that he probably thought—”</p> - -<p>“That I really liked him? Perhaps he -did. I never thought of that. Still, badly -as he has behaved, I can’t help a kindly -feeling for him. You see, I had such a -lovely new gown for the opera and everybody<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> -knew that I expected to go often, -so—”</p> - -<p>“You might even have had to give in -and acknowledge that you were wrong, but -for Edwin!”</p> - -<p>“No, dear,” replied the blue-eyed girl, -with great dignity. “Never that. I really -expected to marry Jack, you know, and it -would never have done to establish such a -precedent. How could I ever expect a -happy married life, if I began it by acknowledging -that I could ever be in the -wrong?”</p> - -<p>“Very true, dear. By the way, do you -think a peep at my lovely new waist would -do you any good?”</p> - -<p>“You seem to have misunderstood me -entirely,” retorted the blue-eyed girl, -severely, “I am feeling quite happy. Indeed, -I don’t know that I ever felt happier -in my life, unless it was the day upon which -I was mistaken for my younger sister!”</p> - -<p>“But what are you going to do in regard -to Jack?”</p> - -<p>“Why, Emily Marshmallow, how stupid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> -you are to-day! You seem to imagine that -I want to be flattered, like a man, by being -asked to explain things. I told you, -didn’t I? that Jack and I quarreled about -his membership in a new club. Very well, -I too, have decided to join a club!”</p> - -<p>“Humph, that isn’t a bad idea. But -what kind of a club? An Ibsen or a Browning -one, I suppose. I notice that men -dislike particularly to have us members of -really intellectual clubs.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I did think of either an Ibsen or -a Symphony club, but neither of them just -seemed to suit me, so—well, the fact is -that I’ve decided to found a club of my -own.”</p> - -<p>“But even then you can’t always have it -to suit you, because the other members—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I shall dear. You see, I’ll -make all the—the by-laws and resolutions -just as I want them, before I invite any one -to join the club. I think I shall ask Evelyn -to be the president, because she is married -and accustomed already to making somebody -do as she wishes.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Dear, dear, I’m only afraid that you -are too clever to—”</p> - -<p>“Succeed? Not quite so bad as that, I -hope. Now, you see, the chief objection -to Jack’s new club was that he wouldn’t -tell me anything about it. Said he didn’t -know just what its purpose was. As if a -man would join a club without knowing—”</p> - -<p>“I begin to see now. You mean to keep -the purpose of your own club a secret, -too?”</p> - -<p>“That’s just it, and when Jack hears how -nice it is, he’ll find out that we are a great -deal cleverer than he thinks. I shall make -the membership for life too, so—”</p> - -<p>“But you haven’t even told me the purpose -of the club yet.”</p> - -<p>“The Advancement of Woman, dear. -Jack hates advanced women and when I -make up with him—”</p> - -<p>“But you said a moment ago that you -would never—”</p> - -<p>“Good gracious, Emily,” cried the blue-eyed -girl, hastily, “do stop talking a moment -and let me get in a word edgewise:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> -I’ve been trying for half an hour to get a -chance to ask you where the new waist you -offered to show me, is, and I can’t—”</p> - -<p>“Here it is in my wardrobe and isn’t it a -dream? You may try it on, if you like.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, dear; but no. I care so -little for such frivolities, now that I have -come to enjoy the real intellectual life. -Did you ever see such darling sleeves? It -does seem that a girl who could not be -happy in them must—”</p> - -<p>“Have at least a boil on her chin! Yes, -doesn’t it? But really, Dorothy, you make -me ashamed of caring so much for such -vanities. Why, those very sleeves cost me -two whole nights’ rest!”</p> - -<p>“Never mind about that, dear; we can’t -all be intellectual. Look here, Emily -Marshmallow, if you’ll promise never to -breathe it as long as you live, I’ll tell you -the last mean thing that Frances—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, do! She has a new gown that -would arouse the envy of Dr. Mary Walker. -All chiffon, spangles, embroidery and—”</p> - -<p>“I know. My story has reference to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -that very gown. You know how very mysterious -she always is about her new things!”</p> - -<p>“M’hm. As if anybody cared to know -about them! Do tell me if her waist is -made—”</p> - -<p>“Well, I—you see, it was this way: I -knew she was having her new gown made -at Madame’s, and I accidentally discovered -that she was to be fitted on Friday at two.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I see. Then, you called upon -Frances at one o’clock, thinking that she’d -take you along, rather than risk offending -Madame by being late?”</p> - -<p>“No; Frances isn’t afraid of Madame—she -doesn’t owe her anything. I just happened -in at Madame’s at half-past two. -They told me she was busy, but I said I -knew she wouldn’t mind if I stepped into -the fitting-room for a minute, as I had a -letter from Paris and wanted to tell her all -about the new skirts.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you clever thing!”</p> - -<p>“Yes. So in I bounced, and there stood -Frances, all in billowy waves of turquoise -blue and—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But I thought her new gown was green -and white, with—”</p> - -<p>“And you should have seen how sweetly -she smiled. So sweetly that I knew she -was wild with rage!”</p> - -<p>“But did you make it right with the Madame? -Did—”</p> - -<p>“Pretended that I must have left the -Paris letter at home, and told her I’d fetch -it the next day. Then, after a good, long -look at Frances, I came away and—”</p> - -<p>“And ran in to tell all the other girls -how her new gown was made?”</p> - -<p>“M’hm. Annie first: you know, she -hasn’t a bit of originality and she said, at -once, that she’d have her new one just like -it. Then, I dropped in at Evelyn’s tea -and—”</p> - -<p>“Told all the others, too. M’hm.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. But what do you think that cat, -Frances, had done? She’d been there before -me and told them all that I had come -into the fitting-room out of sheer curiosity—I -curious, the idea! And the gown she -was trying on was not her own, after all,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -she said, but one about which Madame had -asked her opinion and—”</p> - -<p>“Gracious, do you suppose that was the -truth?”</p> - -<p>“Alas, I know it;” groaned the blue-eyed -girl, “it belonged to Jack’s sister, -Effie! Now, Effie detests Annie and when -she sees her in a gown which is an exact reproduction -of her own, she will—”</p> - -<p>“Won’t she, though? Well, my dear, -Effie was an unknown quantity before, but -now you may depend upon one thing—she -will use any influence she may have with -Jack against you.”</p> - -<p>“True. And all because of such a silly -thing, too! But, then, people are so -frivolous. Well, you will join my new -club, won’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Mercy, yes. You had better invite -Frances, too; she will tell Effie all about it, -and the first time Effie is offended with -Jack, she will tell him, thinking to annoy -you both—”</p> - -<p>“I shall, though it is hardly necessary, -either, for, once started, everybody will talk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -of nothing else. But, whatever you do, -don’t tell Dick a word about it. Evelyn’s -husband is sure to tell him, anyhow, and -then he can’t say that women never keep -secrets.”</p> - -<p>“What utter nonsense. Of course women -can keep secrets! Why, I once knew a -girl intimately for two whole years and in -all that time she never told me that her -curls were false. I wouldn’t have known -it to this day, if I hadn’t walked into her -room one day when she had washed them -and hung them up to dry. I’ve told that -story to a dozen men, and I’ve never -yet found one of them magnanimous -enough to acknowledge that it proved my -point!”</p> - -<p>“You can’t prove anything to a man, -dear, unless he wants it proved. Well, I -must go. You’ll not fail me at the first -meeting of the Teacup club, then?”</p> - -<p>“The Teacup club,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin, disappointedly, -“Why I thought it was to be a really intellectual -club, and—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> - -<p>“So it is. But, you know, real merit is -always modest. If a lot of men get up -such a thing, they give it a six-syllabled -name; but we wish to evade, rather than -seek, notoriety and, besides, as I said before, -once we get it started, the whole town -will talk of nothing else!”</p> - -<p>It fell upon a bright sunshiny day, and -the meeting for the organization of the Teacup -club was well attended.</p> - -<p>“And all the girls are wearing their newest -gowns, too,” whispered the blue-eyed -girl to the girl with the dimple in her chin, -“that shows that they appreciate the importance -of the undertaking.”</p> - -<p>“And what an awfully becoming hat you -are wearing,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin. “If I owned such a milliner’s -dream I should not mind anything that -could happen to me.”</p> - -<p>“Which means that you have something -unpleasant to tell me,” said the blue-eyed -girl. “You need not be uneasy,” she added, -“I’ll not move a muscle, for Frances is -looking this way.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Well, then, I heard her tell Nell that -Jack comes to her almost every day for -sympathy and—”</p> - -<p>“Humph. When a man says ‘sympathy’ -he means flattery! Is that all?”</p> - -<p>“All? Why I thought—”</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear. You see, I thought perhaps -you had stronger proof than her own assertion. -Why, Frances, dear, how well you -are looking to-day! I have not seen you -for such an age that I thought you must be -out of town.”</p> - -<p>“Has it seemed so long to you, dear?” -returned the brown-eyed blonde. “Now, to -me the days go so swiftly that, as I sometimes -tell Ja—Mr. Bittersweet, I mean—I -often forget whether it is Saturday or -Monday!”</p> - -<p>“So you have seen the poor fellow, have -you?” returned the blue-eyed girl, with an -angelic smile; “it is so good of you to console -him. But, indeed, you are always -good about such things and so modest -about it, too, that but for the men themselves, -we should never know how hard you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -work just to induce them to come and be -comforted!”</p> - -<p>“I—why,—I—” stammered the brown-eyed -blonde.</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed, I was defending you only -the other day. I was quite angry with -Marion for saying that your house should -be called ‘An Asylum for the Rejected.’ -I was so indignant that I just told her that, -for my part, I thought we all ought to be -grateful to you for consoling the poor fellows -and helping to keep them out of mischief -when they are feeling so badly. I reminded -her, too, that you must do it out -of pure philanthropy—for you never seem -to get anything out of it. Really, I never -saw you looking quite so well; you have -such a fine color and—oh, here is Evelyn, -at last, and we can call the meeting to -order!”</p> - -<p>“Why, Evelyn is wearing her old gown,” -cried the girl with the classic profile, “I -call that downright mean! I had thought -I could get such a good chance to study the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -draping of it while she was on the platform.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps, that is why she didn’t wear -it,” returned the girl with the eyeglasses. -“Mercy, is it me they are calling to order? -Why, didn’t you tell me before; I—”</p> - -<p>“Dear me, girls,” the little woman on -the platform was saying, “I don’t know -that I ought to be president. It seems to -me that we should have an election or -something.”</p> - -<p>“That is not necessary,” said the blue-eyed -girl, “don’t you remember? I asked -you to be president, in the first place. But -if you’d rather, I’ll move that you are to -be the chief officer, and Emily, here, will -second the motion, won’t you Emily?”</p> - -<p>“Why, yes of course,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“That does seem more regular,” said the -little woman on the platform, in a relieved -tone. “I wonder if I ought to make a -speech of acceptance?”</p> - -<p>“Not unless you choose;” said the blue-eyed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> -girl, “harmony is the chief study of -this club, and—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, if it is to be a club for the study of -harmony, I can’t join;” said the girl with -the eyeglasses, “I don’t know a thing -about music and—”</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid you have not been paying -attention,” said the blue-eyed girl, severely. -“The club is organized for the advancement -of woman and I don’t know a girl -anywhere who would be more benefited by -it than yourself. By the way, Evelyn, I suppose -we ought to assess dues, or something. -I know that Ja—I mean a man I know—is -always talking about dues at his clubs.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, but this is to be entirely different -from a man’s club,” said the president, -“and, then, what is the use of assessing -dues, anyhow?”</p> - -<p>“We might give the money to charity,” -suggested the girl with the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, if we did that, why not let -each of us give what she wants to charity -and be done with it?” said the girl with the -eyeglasses.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, of course,” said the president; -“dear me, I had no idea that it was so easy -to organize a club, or I’d have done it long -ago. It isn’t half as much trouble as giving -a tea and you don’t run any risk of -offending people by forgetting to invite -them and then having to convince them -that the card was lost in the mails.”</p> - -<p>“Talking of teas,” said the girl with the -Roman nose, “I—”</p> - -<p>“Pardon me,” said the president, gently, -“but if this is a club for the advancement -of woman, ought we to talk about -teas?”</p> - -<p>“But you began it, yourself,” said the -girl with the Roman nose, “I only—”</p> - -<p>“I think I said merely that the club is -ever so much nicer than a tea,” said the -president.</p> - -<p>“And so it is,” said the blue-eyed girl, -“though, by the way, Nell’s last one was -lovely—there were enough men present to -amuse us, whereas—”</p> - -<p>“There are usually so few that they have -to be amused, lest they get lonesome,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -broke in the brown-eyed blonde. “Oh, -girls, have you heard that Clarissa—”</p> - -<p>“Oughtn’t we to be attending to business,” -said the girl with the Roman nose, -“instead of talking about Clarissa? I saw -her myself only an hour ago and if there -was anything exciting to tell, she would -have—”</p> - -<p>“But this <i>has</i> a connection with the -club,” insisted the brown-eyed blonde. -“She wants to become a member!”</p> - -<p>“She just can’t be anything of the -kind,” said the blue-eyed girl, “the idea! -A girl whose reputation for intellectuality -rests upon the careless combing of her hair -and a habit of wearing hats six months behind -the mode.”</p> - -<p>“But how can we get out of it, if she -says she wants to join?” said the president, -with an anxious air.</p> - -<p>“Tell her that one of the rules of the club -is that no person over the age of twenty-two -years can become a member,” suggested -the girl with the dimple in her -chin; “she celebrated her twenty-third<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -birthday about a week ago, you remember.”</p> - -<p>“But it isn’t one of the rules,” objected -the brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“Then, we can make it a rule, right -now,” said the blue-eyed girl, calmly. “I -know just how it would be if we let Clarissa -into the club—she’d insist upon having -everything her own way right along. I -hate such selfishness myself, and—”</p> - -<p>“So do I,” said the president; “by the -way, oughtn’t we to make a note of that -rule, at once?”</p> - -<p>“What would be the use of that?” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin, “we -have all heard it. Oh, girls, I already see -the benefit we are to derive from the influence -of this club! Not a single soul has -said a word in regard to Clarissa’s pretentions -to being only twenty-three!”</p> - -<p>“Why, that’s true,” cried the president, -“and very considerate of us it was, too, -when we all know how ridiculous it is!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls, I must tell you something,” -cried the girl with the eyeglasses. “I went<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> -with Clarissa to a reception given by her -literary club the other evening and it was -simply awful!”</p> - -<p>“Not a decent toilet in the room, of -course,” said the brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I didn’t expect that—I knew it -was a culture club. It seems that there -had been an awful time over the programme. -Some of the members wanted to -have an Ibsen evening, while others declared -for Browning. Finally, they decided -upon a mixed programme, selections from -them both, you know. I did not know -that when I went.”</p> - -<p>“I should think not,” said the girl with -the Roman nose, “otherwise, you—”</p> - -<p>“Would gladly have accepted the invitation—and -been suddenly taken ill on the -appointed day, of course. Well, when the -papers and selections were being read, I -studied my programme to keep my eyes -from those appalling coiffures, and when I -saw the word ‘Music’ on it, I felt like a -person who has found an oasis in a desert!”</p> - -<p>“And had you?” queried the president,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -who had left the platform and joined the -group about the narrator.</p> - -<p>“No. They played something from -Wagner!”</p> - -<p>“And you?” said the girl with the classic -profile.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I was in a comatose condition by -that time. Nothing mattered. After the -interminable programme they served refreshments.”</p> - -<p>“You felt better then?” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t. They had tea and wafers! -Tea and wafers after Ibsen, Browning and -Wagner! And then Clarissa vanished and -I couldn’t get away. The people present -were all very distinguished; one of the -members had written an epic poem which -would have appeared in Harper’s if it had -not been lost in the mails; one of them had -invented a rational dress for men and another -had once been asked to deliver a -lecture upon ‘Thought Transference’ -before a mothers’ meeting at an orphan -asylum!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> - -<p>“My goodness, no wonder you wanted -to go home!” cried the brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“I did—badly. By and by, while I was -wandering about the rooms in search of -Clarissa, I found a woman who looked as -unhappy as I felt. I was afraid to speak -to her, lest she be somebody very remarkable, -but she asked me, timidly, if I was -the lady who had actually worn a rainy day -dress, in public. I assured her that I was -not, and after that we got on famously.”</p> - -<p>“But who was she?” the president asked.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know her name, but after we -had discussed Ibsen and Browning a little, -I asked what she had done. She replied, -modestly: ‘Oh, I am the person who always -read the Woman’s page in the daily papers!’ -After that, we talked just like ordinary -people, and I didn’t see Clarissa when -she came to look for me!”</p> - -<p>“My goodness, girls, we really ought not -to laugh so,” said the girl with the Roman -nose, “because this club is devoted to the -advancement of woman, and—”</p> - -<p>“That is entirely different,” said the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> -president. “Did Ibsen, Browning or Wagner -ever do anything for the advancement -of woman, I’d like to know?”</p> - -<p>“Of course not,” said the blue-eyed girl, -promptly. “How very absurd!”</p> - -<p>“Besides, our club is laid out on entirely -new lines,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin.</p> - -<p>“Yes, isn’t it?” returned the president; -“Oh, girls, I quite forgot to tell you that -we shall have to pay rent for this room if -we hold our meetings here, and we haven’t -made any provision for paying it.”</p> - -<p>“But what is the use of making provision, -when it isn’t due yet?” asked the blue-eyed -girl.</p> - -<p>“Why—er, that is very true,” said the -president; “I only wish I was as good a -business woman as you!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I often feel that I have a great -deal to learn yet,” said the blue-eyed girl, -modestly. “By the way, Evelyn, what did -your husband say when you told him that -you had decided to join a club?”</p> - -<p>“He said—Oh, girls, I’m almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -ashamed to tell you, but then Tom is -only a man, after all. He said: ‘Then, -may the Lord have mercy upon my -wretched digestion!’”</p> - -<p>“As if women had nothing to do but -cook and keep house! when lots of us -know nothing about either of them,” said -the girl with the classic profile, indignantly. -“Girls, I wonder why it is that if a woman -studies law or anything like that, somebody -is sure to say that she is going outside of -her sphere, while nobody thinks anything -of the kind if a man becomes a chef or invents -a food for infants?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, if you expect logic from a man!” -said the president, shrugging her shoulders; -“however, I expected it, too, before I was -married. I know better now.”</p> - -<p>“Dear, dear, isn’t the Advancement of -Woman delightful?” cried the girl with the -eyeglasses. “After this, when we want to -know anything, we needn’t go to the -trouble of looking it up in the dictionary or -the encyclopædia; we can just discuss it at -the club, and—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why do you bother with those horrid -books? I never do,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “They are so heavy -and always dusty, too. Now, I just ask -the nearest man what I want to know. If -he happens to be wrong, I can always cite -my authority and it gives the next man a -double pleasure in setting me right.”</p> - -<p>“What a clever thing you are,” said the -girl with the eyeglasses; “you always make -me think of what somebody said about er—Juliet, -I think: ‘To know her is a liberal -education.’”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that is nothing. Why, I know a -Vassar girl who has studied Greek and all -that sort of thing and she invariably misspells -several simple words whenever she -writes to a man, so he may think himself so -much cleverer than her and—”</p> - -<p>“And I know a girl who asks every man, -the first time she meets him, to explain -the Australian ballot system. You see, -it is a thing they all have to know, so -they—”</p> - -<p>“Goodness me, I should think she would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> -get awfully tired of the answer,” said the -president.</p> - -<p>“She does. She told me not long ago -that she really must invent a new stock -question, for she could hardly keep from -yawning now, while—”</p> - -<p>“Speaking of yawning,” broke in the -brown-eyed blonde, “Teddy Crœsus -doesn’t send Molly flowers or bonbons -any more!”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see what that has to do with -yawning,” said the girl with the Roman -nose.</p> - -<p>“More than you may think, dear. You -know Molly always asks a man if a premonition -of danger has ever been the means -of saving his life. She doesn’t ask it the -first time they meet, but saves it for some -special occasion. Well, one evening at a -reception, Teddy seemed disposed to talk -to Florence too much, and Molly asked him -the question then, because she knew—”</p> - -<p>“That he would stay with her as long as -she allowed him to talk about himself! Yes, -of course,” said the blue-eyed girl.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> - -<p>“M’hm. Well, he was in the midst of a -long story about how he once escaped from -being in a railroad wreck by missing his train. -Molly was listening with breathless interest -when she saw Florence stop within two -feet of her. She couldn’t resist one -glance of triumph and that glance was her -ruin.”</p> - -<p>“It was? Did he look up just then and -remember Flo—”</p> - -<p>“No, dear. But just as Molly looked at -her, she gave a mighty yawn. Well, you -know, yawning is contagious and Molly had -been at a ball the night before, so she -yawned, too. Teddy’s eyes were on her -and—”</p> - -<p>“And now Florence gets his violets and -bonbons! Well, isn’t that a story without -a moral?” cried the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“It certainly is,” groaned the president. -“Well, girls, I fear we must adjourn, -though it is hard to break up such an intellectual -talk. For my part, I shall go back -to the petty cares of life with renewed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> -energy after a breath of air from a higher -plane.”</p> - -<p>“I, too,” said the girl with the Roman -nose, “I feel now as if petty gossip and -scandal could never interest me again.”</p> - -<p>The president and the blue-eyed girl had -walked four blocks, when the former suddenly -stopped.</p> - -<p>“There, I knew I had forgotten something,” -she cried; “at first, I thought it -was only to order dinner, but now I remember -that I did not suggest a topic for discussion -at our next meeting!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, pshaw, that makes no difference,” -said the blue-eyed girl, “nobody would -have had time to prepare anything for it, if -you had; there is so much going on in our -set this week, and—”</p> - -<p>“Very true,” replied the president, “and -all the members are so much interested in -intellectual topics, anyhow, that they are -quite prepared to discuss them extemporaneously -as we did to-day.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter II<br /> - -<small>The Club Discusses Woman in Politics</small></h2> - - -<p>The Teacup club was called to order fifteen -minutes before the appointed time at -its second meeting. “We are all here, -you know, and there is no use in waiting,” -observed the president, as she rapped for -order with a jeweled hatpin.</p> - -<p>“Hear, hear,” said the girl with the -Roman nose, who had been reading up in -parliamentary usage.</p> - -<p>“I am so glad to see you all here,” said -the president, “I was afraid that Effie’s -luncheon might—”</p> - -<p>“Keep some of us away? Not from this -club,” said the girl with the classic profile. -“I believe she chose the day just on purpose -to break up the meeting, so I declined -her invitation.”</p> - -<p>“Did you?” said the girl with the Roman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> -nose, “I didn’t. Effie is not popular -enough to offer her guests badly cooked -food, so I went and excused myself as soon -as we rose from the table on the plea that I -should be late for the club if I remained -longer.”</p> - -<p>“I wish I might have seen Effie when -you said that,” remarked the girl with the -eyeglasses. “However, your turn came -when the door closed after you.”</p> - -<p>“I think not, dear,” said the girl with -the Roman nose, calmly, “Effie is not -yet distinctly engaged to my cousin -Clarence, so—”</p> - -<p>“She has to be on decent terms with his -family! I might have thought of that,” -said the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“If they had been married, now of course -I shouldn’t have dared to do it, but—”</p> - -<p>“I should think not. Oh, girls, speaking -of what happens after the door closes, -makes me think of what happened to Effie -herself once. It was just after the affair -with Teddy Crœsus, you know.”</p> - -<p>“The time she thought to make people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> -believe she was engaged to him, and took -him to dine with her grandmother—”</p> - -<p>“And her grandmother failed to understand -the situation and congratulated them! -Indeed, I do,” cried the girl with the -Roman nose, “although, on account of -being her dearest friend, I failed to hear -it until two days after everybody else -had.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you know she went to a breakfast -at Nell’s a few days after that,” went -on the girl with the eyeglasses, “and left -early. As she reached the corner, she remembered -a message for Nell and went back -to deliver it. She burst into the room unannounced -and found all the girls talking at -once.”</p> - -<p>“About her, of course! What did—”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Any other girl would have known -that, but Effie said: ‘Oh, girls, do tell me -all about it; what has happened?’”</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“And it was so sudden that not one of -them could think of a thing to say until she -had flounced out in a rage!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> - -<p>“The moral is: Never go back after once -saying good-by,” said the president.</p> - -<p>“True,” said the brown-eyed blonde, -“by the way, Dorothy, why weren’t you -at Effie’s to-day?”</p> - -<p>“I fancy my invitation was lost in the -mail,” replied the blue-eyed girl. “I shall -mention it to Effie as soon as I see her, so -she will not feel that I’ve slighted her intentionally. -Why, Frances, dear, did those -mean things let you sit all through luncheon -with the end of your, ah—detachable hair -showing and a dab of powder on your nose? -How mean and envious some people are!”</p> - -<p>“I—I think it is cooler over on the other -side,” panted the brown-eyed blonde, “and -besides I must see Emily a minute.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Dorothy, you must have just -heard something awfully nice, you look so -happy and smiling,” said the girl with the -classic profile, “but really this delightful -club is making us all amiable.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, isn’t it?” said the blue-eyed girl, -“I couldn’t be really mean to anybody -now, if I tried.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Excuse me for interrupting you, girls,” -said the president, “but I want to announce -our topic for discussion, and if I don’t do -it at once I may forget it. Suppose we -choose “Woman as a Political Factor?” -That is a broad enough field even for us, -and—”</p> - -<p>“So it is,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“Well, I know one thing—whenever -a woman really knows what she wants -in a political line, she gets it.”</p> - -<p>“She does—and has ever since Eve held -that first caucus with the serpent in the -garden,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin.</p> - -<p>“Hear, hear!” cried the girl with the -Roman nose, who had been furtively consulting -her book on parliamentary usage. -“Oh, girls, have you heard that the man -Nell expects to marry is a politician?”</p> - -<p>“No; but it seems a very suitable -match,” said the president, “for I don’t -know a girl anywhere who can shake hands -as gracefully as she does.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me, Evelyn, how generous you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> -are,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “I -believe you could find something nice to -say about everybody.”</p> - -<p>“I really believe I could,” said the president, -modestly, “and, after all, it is easy -enough, for if you don’t like the subject of -your remarks, you can always say it in such -a tone that it does more harm than good.”</p> - -<p>“You are so just,” sighed the girl with -the classic profile, “and yet, men always -declare there is no real fellowship among -women!”</p> - -<p>“They confuse their own wish with the -true state of affairs,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “They know that one -woman is often more than a match for the -whole male sex and when a number of -women band together they—”</p> - -<p>“Usually get more than they want,” -said the president. “I often wonder, -though, why it is always so much easier to -convince other men that you are in the -right than it is to persuade the men of your -own family?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps we put it in a more flattering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> -way to strangers,” suggested the girl with -the dimple in her chin, “we just can’t -help it, though, for we can’t always -be—”</p> - -<p>“Looking up?” said the girl with the -Roman nose. “Of course not—if we were -our necks would grow so stiff that—”</p> - -<p>“We could never see our own boots; besides, -we would be such frights that no man -would look at us and so—”</p> - -<p>“It would do no good in the end,” finished -the blue-eyed girl. “Still, I sometimes -fancy, after all, that it might be well -to be as nice to papa and the boys as I am -to the men I dance with!”</p> - -<p>“My goodness,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin, “we must be getting -into metaphysics now! I’m not quite sure -as to what metaphysics may be, so I always -conclude that everything I don’t understand -must—”</p> - -<p>“Be metaphysics? Do you? For my -part, I always confuse metaphysics with -hydraulics, though there is some difference -between them I know,” said the brown-eyed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> -blonde. “Let us ask Evelyn to explain -them right now. She—”</p> - -<p>“Some other time, dear;” said the president, -hastily. “You know we are discussing -Woman in Politics to-day and—”</p> - -<p>“It would be unparliamentary to discuss -anything else,” said the girl with the -Roman nose.</p> - -<p>The president looked at her gratefully.</p> - -<p>“What a logical mind you have, dear,” -she said. “I only wish you could be with -me sometimes when Tom comes home late -from his club. I know that there are all -sorts of flaws in the stories he tells me, but -somehow I never find them until after he -has given me money and I’ve kissed him -and made up.”</p> - -<p>“What a pity,” sighed the girl with the -Roman nose, “for if you found out the real -flimsiness of his stories sooner, you could -get more money.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear, so I could,” wailed the president, -“it is an awful thing to have a husband -and not a logical mind!”</p> - -<p>“So it is,” said the girl with the Roman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> -nose, “but, Evelyn, don’t tell anybody -your opinion of me, for if you do, it may -end in my having a logical mind and no -husband, which is worse!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, isn’t this beautiful!” cried the girl -with the eyeglasses, suddenly. “Really, -girls, I am so stupid—that is not stupid as -compared to a man, of course, but to the -rest of you—that I wonder you allow me -to belong to the club!” and there were -tears in her eyes as she spoke.</p> - -<p>The president came down from the platform -and kissed her.</p> - -<p>“Stupid! the idea of a girl with such a -genius for hairdressing being stupid,” she -cried.</p> - -<p>“And that girl a chafing-dish cook whose -Welsh rarebits are sometimes successful, -too!” cried the brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“Oh! speaking of chafing-dish cookery,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin. -“You know that Annie used to be engaged -to Eustace, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. But what has that to do with -chafing-dish cookery?” said the girl with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> -the Roman nose. “Girls, I have the loveliest -recipe for making—”</p> - -<p>“It has a great deal to do with it. -When he married Claire, Annie just smiled -and selected a chafing-dish as a wedding -present. She knew that Eustace was a -confirmed dyspeptic and that Claire’s hands -are so pretty that she could not possibly -resist an opportunity to display them, so -she would cook all sorts of dishes and—”</p> - -<p>“By the way, I hear that they have -agreed to separate,” said the president. “I -met Claire on the way to the manicure the -other day. I wonder where Eustace is?”</p> - -<p>“He is in a sanitarium,” replied the girl -with the dimple in her chin, “the doctor -thinks he will have to be taken into court -on a stretcher when the divorce proceedings -come up!”</p> - -<p>“And yet you told me the other day that -Annie had no originality; I’ve learned this -since then,” whispered the girl with the -dimple in her chin to the blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“I only meant in the matter of gowns, -dear,” was the apologetic reply. “By the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> -way, Frances seems not quite herself, to-day.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve noticed that. I fancied you might -have said something to her which—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, never; why, I consider Frances -one of my dearest friends—”</p> - -<p>“I know that, dear. But what is the -use of a friend, if you can’t be disagreeable -to her sometimes?”</p> - -<p>“True. I sometimes think it is one reason -that married women keep their friends -longer. They have husbands to—”</p> - -<p>“Act as lightning rods and carry off their -displeasure! Yes; it must really be quite -a convenience.”</p> - -<p>“Very likely. Don’t you feel, after all, -that Jack—”</p> - -<p>“Jack? Oh, I suppose you mean Mr. -Bittersweet! No, I don’t feel any such -thing, Emily Marshmallow, and you are no -friend of mine if you champion him after -the way he has behaved to me!”</p> - -<p>“I—I was only going to mention that he -had resigned from that new club. He told -me so himself.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, he has, has he? Well, isn’t that -just like a man? And after he had paid all -his dues for a year in advance, too, and -gotten nothing out of it!”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he—he did it hoping to please -you, dear.”</p> - -<p>“His actions are perfectly indifferent to -me, I assure you. Besides, if I made up -with him to-morrow, Frances would always -think I was jealous. I jealous of her—the -idea! And, oh, Emily, the way he—he -flirts with that girl is enough to b—break -my heart!”</p> - -<p>“If you two girls have anything interesting -to say, I wish you would say it -aloud,” broke in the president. “Of course -I am not curious, but some of the others -may—”</p> - -<p>“Nothing at all interesting,” said the -blue-eyed girl, promptly; “I—I was just -telling Emily that this club seems the one -thing needed to fill my cup of happiness to -overflowing!”</p> - -<p>“And mine!” said the girl with the -Roman nose. “By the way, isn’t it too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> -provoking that curls are coming in again, -just as veils are going out!”</p> - -<p>“And just at the windiest season of the -year, too,” wailed the brown-eyed blonde. -“Really, I often think that the fashions are -invented by men—they are so contrary!”</p> - -<p>“Pardon me,” said the president, “I did -not quite catch what you were saying, because -Emily and Marion were both talking -at the same time. It seems to me that -since I have been married, I can’t follow -even two conversations simultaneously, as -I used.”</p> - -<p>“Speaking of that,” said the girl with -the eyeglasses, “who do you tell your -secrets to now that you are married?”</p> - -<p>“Why, I’ve hit on a splendid plan,” -cried the president, “when I feel that I -must just tell a secret or die—and I often -feel that way—I wait until Tom is asleep -and repeat the whole story in his ear. It -relieves my mind and does no harm.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t be too sure of that,” said the -girl with the dimple in her chin. “My sister -Helen doesn’t agree with you at all. You<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> -mentioned it to her the other day and she -thought it clever, and resolved to emulate -your wisdom, so she tried it on her husband, -and he wasn’t asleep, only pretending.”</p> - -<p>“But I always test my husband with a -question or two, first,” said the president.</p> - -<p>“So did Helen. She asked him if he -could fail to see how much she needed a -new bonnet and wanted to know how much -his share of the alumni banquet amounted -to. He only snored in reply, and of course -she thought she was safe and repeated the -secret.”</p> - -<p>“With the result?” queried the blue-eyed -girl, who was listening, breathless.</p> - -<p>“That it was all over his club the next -day,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin. “It would not have made any difference,” -she added, soberly, “only the secret -was a rather clever trick I had played on -Dick a few days before—and he belongs to -the same club!”</p> - -<p>“And yet they say a man can keep a -secret!” said the girl with the Roman -nose.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Who says so?” queried the girl with -the eyeglasses. “Other men? Oh! I -didn’t know but that you had heard some -woman say so.”</p> - -<p>“Not unless a man was listening, dear, -and that man a person whom—”</p> - -<p>“She wished to flatter immensely!”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Or who happened to know some -of her own secrets! Girls, I’ve been wondering -what on earth Annie sees in that -horrid Fred Van Stupid? Now, I can understand -the interest a girl takes in a brainless -man who has a great deal of money, -because then—”</p> - -<p>“He is exposed to so many temptations -and her influence is sure to do him good,” -finished the girl with the dimple in her -chin, “for my part, I always let Ned Goldie -come to see me oftener than usual during -Lent. I feel that I am really doing some -good and—”</p> - -<p>“Violets are an absolute necessity then -and they are so dear that very few men can -afford to present them in quantities.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, of course I let him bring me flowers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -if he wants to—it is so much better for -him to spend his money in that way than -to lose it at poker, that I feel quite a missionary.”</p> - -<p>“H’m; I don’t know about that, dear, -though it’s very lovely of you to feel so,” -sighed the president, “the fact is, that you -are actually encroaching on what is really -my violet money. Ned will play poker -with my husband at the club at other seasons -of the year, when he is not allowed to -see much of you. He always loses and I -make Tom divide his winnings with me, -so—”</p> - -<p>There was a look of high resolve upon the -face of the girl with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“After this, I shall make him bring me -twice as many, so I can divide with you,” -she said, sweetly. “Oh, no, don’t thank -me; I do so love to feel that I am doing -some good in the world and I do so disapprove -of games of chance!”</p> - -<p>“You haven’t made up your mind as to -whether you will accept him or not, have -you?” queried the brown-eyed blonde.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Not yet, dear. His chances and Dick’s -are about even, at present. Of course he -doesn’t know that, though; I couldn’t -exert such a good influence over him, if he -was sure one way or the other.”</p> - -<p>“True,” sighed the president. “Oh, -girls, I don’t know why men are so much -more willing to be influenced for good before -they are married than after. You may -be sure of one thing though, Emily; he -will say horrid things about you, if you -finally do refuse him.”</p> - -<p>“No doubt,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin, “but when one tries to do -good in this world, one can not begin to -count the cost.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Emily Marshmallow, what an angel -you are!” cried the blue-eyed girl, kissing -her. “You are always so busy doing good -to others, that you never seem to give yourself -a thought!”</p> - -<p>The brown-eyed blonde had by this time -quite recovered her equanimity and was -chatting, in low tones, with the girl who -wore the eyeglasses.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Poor, dear Dorothy is looking rather ill, -isn’t she?” she remarked, after a while.</p> - -<p>“Why, I hadn’t noticed it before, but -now that you speak of it, she does. However, -she can’t expect to look young -always. By the way, I hear that she has -quarreled with Jack Bittersweet again.”</p> - -<p>“Has she seen him lately? I didn’t -know that she had,” returned the brown-eyed -blonde, smiling affectionately into the -mirror.</p> - -<p>“Your hair is looking lovely to-day,” returned -the girl with the eyeglasses. “Look -here, Frances, do, like a dear, tell me all -about the quarrel. You know all about it, -of course, and I’ll not tell a soul. You -know how well I can keep a secret and, besides, -you owe it to me, for you wouldn’t -have known a thing about Fred and Clarissa -but for me!”</p> - -<p>“But I hadn’t a thing to do about the -quarrel, oh, really now I hadn’t. Of -course, people think it was all on my account -but—why, I was in Omaha when I -heard of it.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> - -<p>“By the way you came back from Omaha -earlier than you expected, didn’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I—no; that is only a week earlier. -How well Jack looks, doesn’t he? And -what a flow of spirits he has.”</p> - -<p>“Is it possible? Now, Effie says that he -is as cross as a bear. But, then, Effie is -his sister, so—”</p> - -<p>“What she says is of no consequence. -Well, since you know so much already, I -may as well tell you the rest. I fear that -it is Dorothy’s insane jealousy of me which -made the trouble. Of course I have not a -spark of vanity, but I can’t help seeing—”</p> - -<p>“But I heard that the quarrel was over -Jack’s membership in a new club.”</p> - -<p>“That might have been, dear, but people -that are engaged don’t always quarrel over -the real bone of contention. Of course, I -only hope I really had nothing to do with -it; I have so many such things on my conscience -already that I don’t want any -more,” and she sighed softly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but tell me about the quarrel, do.”</p> - -<p>“Well—er—the fact is that Jack hasn’t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> -said a word to me about it, which makes me -quite sure that I am the cause of it, unwilling -as I am to think it.”</p> - -<p>“Then, you really don’t know any of -the facts?” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“Excuse me now, dear, I see Emily -beckoning me; she wants to ask me about a -new seamstress I’ve discovered. Frances -doesn’t know a bit more than we do,” she -whispered to the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “Jack hasn’t told her a thing, so -he evidently still cares for Dorothy, and -she—”</p> - -<p>“That’s just it,” wailed the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “I’d have succeeded in -making it up long ago, if they didn’t care -quite so much!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear,” said the president, “I am -afraid that I am awfully stupid to-day, but -the fact is that—”</p> - -<p>“By the way, I heard that you slept at a -hotel last night, Evelyn,” said the girl with -the Roman nose, “how on earth did that -happen?”</p> - -<p>“It was all Tom’s fault,” returned the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> -president, in an aggrieved tone, “only he, -being a man, will not admit the fact. You -see, he didn’t want to go to the reception -at all, so he—”</p> - -<p>“But, Nell said she met him in the street -and gave him a verbal invitation, which he -accepted with effusion.”</p> - -<p>“Pshaw, if Nell knew my husband as well -as I do, she’d be aware that the more -affably he accepts an invitation, the more -determined he is to escape by some plausible -excuse at the last moment. He says -that people always accept your regrets as -genuine under such circumstances.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you for telling me that,” said the -girl with the classic profile. “My great aunt -gives whist parties sometimes and, as she -has a lot of lovely old lace and china and -nobody in particular to leave it to, I don’t -like to hurt her feelings by refusing her invitations -outright. On the other hand, if I -accept and happen to be placed at the table -with her, I know I shall not receive so much -as a cracked saucer in her will!”</p> - -<p>“But you and Tom did go to the reception,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> -I know, for I saw you there,” said the -girl with the Roman nose, “how did you -manage it?”</p> - -<p>“To make him go? Oh, that was easy -enough. I merely said that he wasn’t very -well and as I did not like to go out and -leave him alone, I would ask mamma to -come and stay with him.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, then he agreed to go, did he?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear—said he had meant to go all -along. But after that everything went -wrong: his razor refused to do its work and -he actually pretended that it was all because -I had sharpened a lead pencil with it -the other day, as if that could have—”</p> - -<p>“But why did you tell him that you had -sharpened your pencil with it?” asked the -blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“Because I cut my finger on the old -thing and thoughtfully warned him that it -was too sharp. Then, I—well my own -wardrobe was full and I had hung up a few -things in his, and the skirt of my new tailor-made -gown was hanging over his dress coat. -He pretended that it was all wrinkled and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> -creased by that. Then, I had borrowed his -box of neckties and neglected to return -them, and he made such a fuss over my forgetfulness -that I determined to give him a -lesson. I saw him lay his latch key on the -chiffonier ready to put in his other pocket -and I didn’t say a word when he turned -out the gas and went off without it.”</p> - -<p>“But how did you expect to get into the -house when you returned?”</p> - -<p>“Oh! I slipped back into the room in the -dark after he had gone down, and put it in -my own pocket.”</p> - -<p>“As an object lesson in remembering. -Good, I’m glad you did it,” said the girl -with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“M’hm. I told the maid not to sit up -for us, and I saw for myself that every door -and window was fastened tight—for once -Tom climbed in at the pantry window when -he had forgotten his key and didn’t want -me to know how late he stayed at the -club.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose he complained next day because -the window was open, too,” murmured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> -the girl with the dimple in her chin, -“men are so illogical!”</p> - -<p>“Well, no, dear; but he would have -done so, only the clock happened to strike -three as he came upstairs, and I counted the -strokes aloud. Well Tom was cross at being -kept waiting, but my gown fits so well -that I felt at peace with all mankind.”</p> - -<p>“Even your own husband!” said the -brown-eyed blonde. “It must indeed fit well.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. And I enjoyed the evening immensely, -for I knew I had such a good joke -on Tom when we got home.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and what happened then?” asked -the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it was great fun. He searched in -all his pockets twice, rang the bell until he -was tired, though the maids asleep in the -third story might as well have been in -Greenland for all the good that did. Then, -he tried to force each door and window before -he came back to the carriage to tell me -that we were locked out!”</p> - -<p>“And then you—”</p> - -<p>“I said: ‘Why didn’t you tell me before,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> -dear? Luckily, there is one of us who -remembers things.’ If you could only have -seen his face as he took the key I gave -him!”</p> - -<p>“Then why on earth did you sleep at the -hotel?” queried the girl with the Roman -nose, in a bewildered tone.</p> - -<p>“I—well, the fact is that I—in the dark, -I had mistaken the key to his desk for the -latch-key! And, oh, girls, if you had seen -me driving home from the hotel at ten -o’clock in the morning, in the gown I had -worn at the reception!”</p> - -<p>“You poor, dear thing!” cried the blue-eyed -girl, “no wonder you chose ‘Woman -in Politics’ for to-day’s discussion! If men -are such tyrants as that, our only refuge -will be equality in suffrage and—”</p> - -<p>“Latchkeys,” said the girl with the eyeglasses, -“though to be sure, we’d need -pockets to keep them in, if we carried -them. Sometimes, I suspect that the -dressmakers are in league with the men to -keep us from gaining our rights,” she -added.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Perhaps they are,” said the blue-eyed -girl, with a startled air, “the men pay the -bills and so the dressmakers may be in -league with them!”</p> - -<p>“You forget one thing, dear,” said the -president, with a superior air. “It is the -women who make the bills. You never -heard of a man who ordered a dress for his -wife did you?”</p> - -<p>“I hope not,” replied the girl with the -Roman nose, “at least, if she was obliged -to wear it.”</p> - -<p>“Well, dears,” said the president, “we -really must adjourn, it is awfully late, but -of course such a serious discussion could -not be hurried. I think I must go and -have a cup of bouillon to refresh me after -making such serious demands upon the gray -matter of my brain.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter III<br /> - -<small>Man’s Real Attitude Toward the -Progress of Woman</small></h2> - - -<p>The Teacup club came to order with -more than its usual reluctance at its next -meeting and the president looked severe. -“I wish you girls would stop talking about -Helena and her affairs,” she said. “I detest -gossip, and, besides, I want to hear all -about her, too, and we can talk better after -the meeting is over. The topic for to-day’s -discussion will be, ‘Man’s Real Attitude -Toward the Progress of Woman.’”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad to hear it,” said the girl with -the Roman nose. “Men are such queer -creatures that by the time a girl gets to -understand them really she is too old to -attract their attention. Now, if we all put -our heads together—”</p> - -<p>“We may attain wisdom without its accompanying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> -wrinkles,” broke in the girl -with the dimple in her chin; “that is a -good idea, for—”</p> - -<p>“It is no real gain to know how to make -them bring the proper kind of flowers and -confectionery, if you have to spend the -money thus saved on the beauty doctor; -yes, that is true,” sighed the brown-eyed -blonde.</p> - -<p>“Widowers, or men who have been engaged -several times, are often nice,” said -the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin. “I like to do my own -training, if it is troublesome. You can’t -persuade a widower that his late wife was -not a type of all womanhood, and that is -horrid, especially if she happens to have -had a taste for domestic magazines and -molasses candy! That is why a widower is so -much less attractive than a widow; she—”</p> - -<p>“Has learned that men, save for a few -leading traits, are all different,” said the -girl with the classic profile. “Yes, matrimony -always widens a woman’s views of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> -opposite sex, while it narrows those of a -man.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear,” said the girl with the Roman -nose; “I do wish men would not do one -thing and say another. Now, they are -always praising domesticity in women, as -well as shrinking modesty, and yet—”</p> - -<p>“They always overlook the domestic -kind of a girl when she does venture among -people,” broke in the brown-eyed blonde. -“I know it, and as for shyness and modesty, -it is only the girl who is bold enough to call -attention to those qualities in herself who -receives a social reward for them.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well,” said the president, “a man -with a couple of sisters learns a great deal -about the sex.”</p> - -<p>“Humph!” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“I don’t know why it is, but the -more sisters a man has, the slower he is to -enter into matrimony.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve noticed that myself,” said the girl -with the classic profile; “while girls who -have plenty of brothers usually marry before -they are twenty.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Pshaw! That is because the friends of -their brothers get a chance to see them sew -on buttons and make caramels,” said the -girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“No, it isn’t,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin, “it is because such a girl has -more than one person to oppose the man -who wants to marry her. But talk about -masculine inconsistency! It sets me wild -to hear men talk about domesticity and -modesty and all that, and then hang about -Kate, a girl who doesn’t know a frying pan -from a—a camera, and who had as lief ask -for a thing she wants as to hint for it—so -unfeminine!”</p> - -<p>“I know it,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“Why, she never has to buy a -flower, and as for candy, she has so much -that she actually shares it with the other -girls! I go to see her more frequently in -Lent, because my conscience will not allow -me to buy any then, and—”</p> - -<p>“And Kate has been engaged six times; -she told me so herself,” said the girl with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> -the eyeglasses. “I declare, it is enough to -make a girl—”</p> - -<p>“H’m!” said the president. “Don’t -forget, my dears, that while she has been -engaged six times, she has not been married -once!”</p> - -<p>“Why—er—that is true,” cried the blue-eyed -girl. “You dear, delightful, clever -thing! I am so glad that I just made you -be our president.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, of course I like it dear; still, -as somebody once said, I’d rather be right -than president.”</p> - -<p>“Hear, hear!” cried the girl with the -Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“Yes. But, oh, girls, Tom says that all -the men in our set are talking about this -club. He says that Jack Bittersweet asked -him confidentially the other day if being -intellectual made a woman less loveable. -Luckily, I had just agreed to let him have -a masculine dinner party and he assured -Jack that it did not.”</p> - -<p>The blue-eyed girl arose softly from her -seat and going over to where the brown-eyed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> -blonde was sitting, kissed her. “You -dear thing,” she said. “Come over any -day you like and you shall see the -new sleeve design I got from Paris yesterday.”</p> - -<p>The girl with the dimple in her chin exchanged -glances with the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“What time in the year do you prefer -for a wedding?” asked the latter, apropos -of nothing.</p> - -<p>“Oh, speaking of weddings, that reminds -me,” said the girl with the Roman nose. -“I’d have prepared a paper on to-day’s -topic, as you suggested, Evelyn, but Elizabeth -asked me to help select her wedding -dress and—well, you know, Elizabeth. -It has taken her two days already and I -don’t see any prospect yet of her making -up her mind.”</p> - -<p>“And yet she required only five minutes -in which to decide to accept Fred, when -he asked her to marry him,” said the president, -thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>“I know, dear, but then in this matter of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -selecting her dress, she had a choice,” said -the brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“And I’m sure that Elizabeth’s father is -delighted to buy her a wedding dress,” said -the girl with the eyeglasses. “Oh, Emily, -pardon me—I quite forgot that Elizabeth is -your cousin!”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, dear, though I rather like -her, in spite of the relationship. Oh, girls, -you have no idea of what an effect this club -is having upon me. Why, I’ve turned my -den into a library, cut all the leaves of my -Carlisle and coaxed papa to buy me a handsome -writing desk and do up the walls in -forest greens because pink and blue seemed -so frivolous. Now, I can sit in that room -and write papers for the club in real comfort.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t know how pleased I am to -hear it,” cried the president, warmly. “It -is quite worth all the labor of selecting -topics and leading the discussion, I assure -you. Why, Marion, how late you are! -Don’t you know that the really advanced -woman is even ahead of the clock?”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, I do,” panted the girl with the -classic profile, “but, really, I’ve had the -most awful time getting here at all! You -know I’m always in trouble, but really this -is the worst that—I’ll never go anywhere -with Nell again, unless it’s to my own -funeral, and I can’t help myself, then.”</p> - -<p>“What on earth has Nell done now?” -queried the girl with the dimple in her -chin, “don’t you know that you must not -expect absolute sanity from an engaged -girl? You said you were going with her to -the south side to call upon some of the -relatives of her affianced. Did she take -you over there, and then discover that she -didn’t know their exact address? Or -did—”</p> - -<p>“The address was not forgotten. We -hadn’t meant to do any shopping to-day, -but we stopped in to buy some thread, and -really the new silks were so cheap that—”</p> - -<p>“You arrived an hour late, and penniless! -I know,” said the blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“N—ot quite. I had ten cents left when -we started for home, and we had to take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> -two lines of cars. Nell and I couldn’t get -seats together—in fact, we were at opposite -ends of the car. However, I paid her fare -and signaled the fact to her, receiving a nod -in reply.”</p> - -<p>“Well?” said the president, “didn’t she -want to pay your fare on the other line?”</p> - -<p>“She—well, the fact is that she had misunderstood -the signal, and paid our fare -again with her own last dime. And there -we were three miles from home, without a -penny in our pockets—and the street car -company had a dime it hadn’t earned. -But then Nell never had a grain of sense—I -should think by this time she knew that -herself.”</p> - -<p>“If she doesn’t, I’m sure you are not to -blame, dear,” said the girl with the Roman -nose. “However, for my part, I shall not -blame you, even if you are as cross as a man -who is wearing a frayed collar, for the rest -of the afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“But, don’t let us interrupt the proceedings,” -said the girl with the classic profile, -“just tell me what to-day’s topic is, and I—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, it is a perfectly delightful one!” -said the blue-eyed girl. “Man’s real attitude -toward the Progress of Woman, -and—”</p> - -<p>“His real attitude is that of flight,” said -the girl with the Roman nose, “he—”</p> - -<p>“Don’t be flippant, dear, whatever you -are,” said the president, gravely, “we have -enough of that to endure from our masculine -acquaintances. It seems to me that a -man laughs at whatever he fails to understand, -and then feels that he has replied to -the argument.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps that is the reason that men -laugh at so many jokes in which I can see -nothing funny,” said the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“No doubt of it,” said the brown-eyed -blonde, “but, girls, never attempt to imitate -them. I did once, and Annie—you -know how obtuse she is—kept asking loudly -what I was laughing at, and I couldn’t tell -her. When a man had just made the remark -that he was glad to find a girl with a -keen sense of the ridiculous, too!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Just like Annie,” said the blue-eyed -girl. “I sometimes wonder whether she is -really obtuse or only malicious. You know -how devoted Tommy Bonds is to music, -don’t you? Well, Annie and I once accompanied -him to a Thomas concert, and I -wanted to make myself agreeable—”</p> - -<p>“I hope you didn’t do it by conversing -while the orchestra was playing,” said the -president.</p> - -<p>“Of course not, goosie. But I remembered -that he always says a woman should -be two things—sincere and fond of music. -The soloist was a pianist, I can’t remember -his name, but his hair was not at all remarkable. -When he played an encore, Tommy -leaned over to me, and said: ‘Isn’t it -charming?’ and I replied, ‘Yes, I like it -better every time I hear it; in fact, I often -ask people to play it for me.’ I wish now -that I hadn’t said that.”</p> - -<p>“Why so?” asked the president, “it -seems to me just the right thing to say.”</p> - -<p>“But Annie leaned over asking, loudly, -‘What is the name of it?’ and, to my horror,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> -Mr. Bonds said he didn’t know, and it -was all so sudden that, to save my life, I -couldn’t make up a name! In the silence -which followed, some one in front of us was -heard remarking that the encore was a composition -by the pianist himself, and now -played for the first time in public!”</p> - -<p>“And it was all Annie’s fault, too,” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin. “By -the way, did I ever tell you how it happened -that Mr. Bonds gave up calling me a -delightful conversationalist? No? Well, -you see, he lived almost opposite to us, -and he practiced on the ’cello until papa, -who is very fond of De Quincey, said he no -longer dared to read “Murder considered as -one of the Fine Arts.” Suddenly he -stopped practicing, and—”</p> - -<p>“Mercy on us, had anything happened -to him?” gasped the president, turning -pale.</p> - -<p>“Nothing ever happens to people who -deserve it. As it happened, however, we -were no better off, for some one, a new -resident of the street, we supposed, began<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -to practice on the violin seven hours a -day!”</p> - -<p>“It may not have been a newcomer,” -observed the girl with the eyeglasses. “It -is a fact that one vigorous soprano is enough -to demoralize a whole neighborhood, and I -suppose—”</p> - -<p>“The ’cello is quite as bad? Possibly so, -at any rate rents went down in the neighborhood -and placards went up. One day I -happened to meet Mr. Bonds, and as long -as my father was not within hearing distance, -I said: ‘Oh, I’m sorry that you -have given up your delightful ’cello.’ If -you could have seen the rapture on his -face.”</p> - -<p>“I’d rather have seen his face than that -of your guardian angel,” remarked the girl -with the classic profile; “but go on; don’t -stop.”</p> - -<p>“I wish I had stopped then, but I didn’t. -I said, ‘By the way, who is it that scrapes -the violin all day long? I never heard -anything so awful in my life!’ Oh, girls, -I—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But I don’t see anything wrong in -that,” said the president.</p> - -<p>“He did. You see, he had given up the -’cello and taken to the violin with the idea -of astonishing the world with his genius!”</p> - -<p>“And you live to tell it,” said the girl -with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“M—yes—you see, everything has its -compensation. When papa heard what I -had done, he gave me a hundred dollars and -his blessing.”</p> - -<p>“What luck some people have,” said the -brown-eyed blonde, “while others—oh, -girls, I know something perfectly lovely, -but I don’t know whether I ought to tell -it to you or not. My conscience—”</p> - -<p>“Why, Frances,” said the president, “I -shall be awfully hurt if you don’t tell us -now. When a girl speaks of her conscience -in that way, it simply means that she distrusts -her audience. You might know by -this time, that we never tell anything which -transpires at a meeting of this club.”</p> - -<p>“Of course not,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “Why, Dick teased<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> -me vainly a whole evening to find out the -line of argument advanced in favor of equal -suffrage when we discussed ‘Woman in -Politics’ the other day. The janitor must -have told him the topic under discussion,” -she added hastily.</p> - -<p>“Very likely,” said the president. -“What was that you wished to tell us, -Frances, dear?”</p> - -<p>“It was something that happened to -Nell,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “Her -fiancé had told her a great deal of his -friend, Mr. Thynker, of Boston, who is to -be his best man, and whom she had never -seen. He appeared suddenly at Mr. Dickenharry’s -office the other day, just as the latter -was starting for Milwaukee, and there was -barely time for him to make arrangements -with Mr. Thynker to call on Nell the following -afternoon. As it happened, he knew -the Vansmiths, and was asked to the -luncheon they gave that day, and seated -immediately opposite to Nell. Of course -he didn’t catch her name when they were -introduced, and there was no chance for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -explanations. Oh, girls, I wonder if I -really ought to finish this?”</p> - -<p>“If you don’t, I shall ask Nell why you -didn’t,” said the president.</p> - -<p>“Well, during a lull in the conversation, -he leaned forward and, in loud, clear tones, -asked Nell what kind of a girl his friend -Tom Dickenharry had got himself engaged -to <i>this</i> time!”</p> - -<p>“M’hm,” said the president, after the -laughter had subsided a little, “that settles -one matter in advance, anyhow. It is easy -to know upon whose side the victory will -rest when they have their first quarrel after -marriage.”</p> - -<p>“There is one question I would like to -ask the members of this club,” said the girl -with the eyeglasses, “and it is one which -nearly disrupted our little Shakespeare club: -If you really want to please a man—any -man—what is the best way to go about -it?”</p> - -<p>“That is really such a simple question -that there is only one answer possible,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> - -<p>“And that is—”</p> - -<p>“Be born rich.”</p> - -<p>“But, suppose you have neglected that -qualification,” persisted the girl with the -eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“Learn to cook; but never let him taste -the result of your cookery,” said the blue-eyed -girl.</p> - -<p>“Yes—or wear his college colors,” said -the girl with the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“Let him do all the talking,” said the -brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“Praise the shape of his head—no matter -what it may be,” said the president. “I -wouldn’t tell anybody that,” she added, -reflectively, “only that two fortune tellers -and a palmist have assured me that my husband -will outlive me.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Bonds has a very well-shaped -head,” observed the girl with the eyeglasses, -“a little long perhaps, but—”</p> - -<p>“The rotundity of his pocketbook over-balances -that,” broke in the girl with the -dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“Clarissa says he is generous, too—a rare<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> -quality in a really wealthy man,” said the -blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“M—I don’t know about his generosity,” -said the president. “A marriage -license is about as inexpensive a thing as a -man can buy, and yet he has displayed no -desire to invest in one.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, pshaw, that makes no difference,” -said the girl with the Roman nose, “lots of -girls nowadays don’t intend to marry, anyhow, -so—”</p> - -<p>“I wonder why they never think to mention -the fact publicly until after they are -thirty,” mused the girl with the dimple in -her chin; “oh, girls, shouldn’t you like -really to do something wonderful?”</p> - -<p>“I once wore a pair of common-sense -shoes a whole month,” said the blue-eyed -girl, modestly.</p> - -<p>“H’m; who was the Englishman?” -asked the brown-eyed blonde, “the one -with whom you used to walk at that time, -I mean,” she added, pleasantly.</p> - -<p>“It was the spring that Mr. Penny-Lesse -was here, but I don’t see what that had to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> -do with it,” said the blue-eyed girl, with -great dignity.</p> - -<p>“Nothing at all of course,” said the -brown-eyed blonde, “I only—”</p> - -<p>“You did not meet him, I believe; he -was very particular about the people to -whom he was introduced,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin, sweetly. “I did -rather an unusual thing myself once—I had -five dollars in my pocketbook when my -allowance came due!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but you had left the pocketbook -at my house ten days before, and thought it -was lost,” said the girl with the classic profile, -“don’t you remember, I only brought -it over after the shops were closed the evening -before?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls,” said the president, “I’ve -recently met a woman who has traveled all -through Asia, and—”</p> - -<p>“I suppose she did it in bloomers and -one of those horrid, unbecoming, stiff caps, -too,” broke in the brown-eyed blonde. -“Well, all I’ve got to say is that a woman -who has the courage to make such a guy of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> -herself, is brave enough to face all the -tigers and mountain lions, and—er—boa -constrictors in Asia.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe there are any boa constrictors -and mountain lions in Asia,” said -the girl with the Roman nose. “As for -tigers—”</p> - -<p>“Mercy, how literal you are!” pettishly -replied the brown-eyed blonde. “Well, -buffalos then; how will that suit you? -I’m equally afraid of all of them, myself.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls,” cried the girl with the dimple -in her chin, “Marion and I have just -had such fun. We have been telling each -other the most awful things that ever happened -to us in our lives.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps that is what made you late, -too,” remarked the president, in a severe -tone.</p> - -<p>“N-not exactly. You see, I knew there -was something wrong about my watch, and -I could not remember whether it was thirteen -minutes fast or thirteen minutes slow, -so—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But do tell us what was the most awful -thing that ever happened to you, Evelyn,” -cried the girl with the classic profile. “The -very worst thing that ever befell me was connected -with a timepiece. It was last summer, -and a man who—who had been very -nice to me was going away early the next -morning. Men were scarce at the seashore, -as you know, and when a lot of the -girls saw us sitting on the porch they came -over and spent the evening with us. We -just could not get a chance for a word -alone.”</p> - -<p>“I know—I know,” groaned the girl -with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“Yes. Well, his train was to go at 5:16 -<small>A.M.</small>, and he asked me in the most meaning -tone if I cared sufficiently to hear something -he had to say to get up early enough to see -him off. I—I said I did.”</p> - -<p>“Well?” said the girl with the Roman -nose.</p> - -<p>“I set my watch by the hall clock in -order to be sure of getting up in time; then -I lay awake nearly all night so I would not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> -oversleep myself. When I reached the station -it was five minutes past six.”</p> - -<p>“Watch stopped?” asked the girl with -the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“No; Harry had run down to spend that -evening with Kate, and she had set the -clock back. The man was married in October -to one of the girls who had risen in time -to see him off.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” said the president. “Speaking -of awful things—you all know how afraid -I am of fire.”</p> - -<p>“We do,” said the girl with the Roman -nose. “I believe you could smell a burning -match a block away.”</p> - -<p>“Well, the other day our fire insurance -ran out, and Tom handed me the money -and asked me to go down and renew it, as -he was very busy. I forgot all about it -until night; then I lay awake sniffing smoke -until Tom thought I had influenza again. -Next morning I got ready to go and attend -to it at once. I wanted to look nice, too, -because one of the men in that office once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -told Tom that he had an awfully pretty -wife.”</p> - -<p>“How much money did he borrow from -Tom that time?” asked the girl with the -dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“I was curling my hair,” went on the -president, unheeding, “when I smelled fire. -I ran wildly all through the house, with a -curl still wrapped about the iron, trying to -locate it!”</p> - -<p>“And did you find any?” asked the -brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“Yes; my own hair was burning,” said -the president, with a groan.</p> - -<p>“How awful!” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“That reminds me of what once -happened to me. It was when I was wearing -a single curl in the middle of my forehead. -One day Frank was there, and he—he -would twist it over his finger and quote -poetry about it until he took all the curl -out of it. Of course I discovered that I -had no handkerchief and went up to get -one.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I don’t see anything so awful in that,” -said the girl with the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“No, dear; but while I was curling it I -dropped the hot iron down my back, and -dared not even scream lest he find out what -I was doing.”</p> - -<p>“The worst thing that ever happened to -me,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin, “was in connection with Lewis. As -soon as it was settled, I went to tell Emmeline, -so she would give up trying to get -him. I said I was his first love, and she -couldn’t imagine how jealous he was. ‘Oh, -yes, dear, I can,’ said she; ‘he was always -so when he was engaged to me!’”</p> - -<p>“I wondered why you broke with him,” -said the president. “Well, we must adjourn -now, and I must say that I have -never heard a subject more logically discussed -than the one to-day!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter IV<br /> - -<small>Concerning the Heroine of To-day</small></h2> - - -<p>“Are you ready to go to the meeting of -the club?” asked the blue-eyed girl, as she -bounced into the room. “Why, Dorothy, -dear, what is the matter? has your father -gotten himself a new bicycle instead of one -for you, or—”</p> - -<p>The blue-eyed girl sat up on the couch. -“I don’t care if I never ride a bicycle again -as long as I live,” she replied, deliberately.</p> - -<p>The girl with the dimple in her chin -turned pale. “I knew it was something -awful when I saw you crying with the -blinds all rolled up; but I hardly thought it -was so bad as that. You—you haven’t -any fever or queer feelings in your head, -have you?”</p> - -<p>“If I had, it would not make any difference,” -she sobbed. “I—oh, I’ll get even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> -with Effie Bittersweet if it ruins my complexion -and takes me all the rest of my natural -life to do it!”</p> - -<p>“Oho, it’s Effie, is it? Well, you’ll -have plenty of chances to get even with -her, once you are her sister-in-law!”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t marry Jack now, to—to -spite Effie, and I—I doubt if I shall have -the chance, anyhow. And as for Frances, -I—”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, dear; I know she has behaved -abominably, but she is punished -already. Her aunt has brought her a new -hat from Paris, and it is geranium pink—fancy -Frances in geranium, can you? She -promised it to Frances when she went -abroad last fall, and Frances has been talking -about it ever since. She will have to -wear it, too, because her aunt is to make -them a long visit, and she is too wealthy -to have her feelings hurt.”</p> - -<p>The blue-eyed girl shook her head, sadly. -“It is very kind of you to try to cheer me,” -she said, “but I am beyond rejoicing. I -only hope it is a very deep geranium pink,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> -that’s all. Oh, Emily, what a desert waste -this life is! No, don’t put another cushion -back of me—I want to be just as uncomfortable -as possible. You know Effie was -here this morning, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose so—I noticed that you have -two portraits of Edwin on the table.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Well, she asked me to go shopping -with her, and I must say I was -pleased, because she hasn’t been here since—since—”</p> - -<p>“Not since you quar—pardon me, I -mean since her brother quarreled with -you.”</p> - -<p>“She said she’d ask me to lunch with -her down-town, but she had spent almost -all her allowance.”</p> - -<p>“The idea of hinting to you in that bare-faced -way! Now, if you had been a man -it—”</p> - -<p>“Would have been all right, of course. -However, I know how confidential Effie -always grows over a cup of tea, so I -promptly invited her to lunch with me. -After she had accepted, I found that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> -I had only fifty cents to my name. Papa -had gone down-town and, mamma had just -borrowed a quarter from me!”</p> - -<p>“My goodness, did you tell Effie that -your head ached so badly that you couldn’t -go?”</p> - -<p>“And have her say that I was fretting -myself ill over Jack? No, thank you. I -excused myself a moment and went downstairs, -for I had just remembered a habit -Papa has of leaving money lying about on -his desk. To my joy, I found a five-dollar -bill in one of the drawers, and I took -that, because I—”</p> - -<p>“But weren’t you afraid to take it?”</p> - -<p>“M—yes, but then one’s own people -have to make up with one sometime or -other. Well, we had a lovely time shopping, -and I took Effie off to luncheon before -she had had time to get cross matching -samples. It was a lovely luncheon, and -before we had finished Effie said she hoped -I would visit her at Delavan in August!”</p> - -<p>“H’m; I suppose she didn’t mention -the fact that Jack expects to be in Canada<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> -from the last week in July to the first one -in September, did she?”</p> - -<p>“No; she didn’t. Oh, what a cat she -is—and I asked her to take another ice on -the strength of it! Well I paid the bill, -tipped the waiter, and was just going out -when the cashier came running after me, -and oh, Emily, what do you think?”</p> - -<p>“You had left your umbrella, of course.”</p> - -<p>“No, I hadn’t. I—I, that five-dollar -bill was a counterfeit which papa was keeping -as an object lesson to mamma, who had -gotten it in change!”</p> - -<p>“You might have known that no man -with a wife and grown daughter would leave -five good dollars in an unlocked drawer, -dear. Did Effie—”</p> - -<p>“Loan it to me? She hadn’t quite -enough, and I don’t know what I should -have done if Frances had not happened to -come in. Effie said that she did not mind -borrowing from Frances, because she—she -was quite like a sister to her! And now I -shall have to make Papa angry by coaxing -for money to pay for all those ices Effie ate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -on false pretenses, and w—worse yet, she -and Frances will have the pleasure of laughing -over it together!”</p> - -<p>“And telling Jack about it, too,” gasped -the girl with the dimple in her chin, helplessly.</p> - -<p>“Of course I know they will do that,” -sobbed the victim. “But I hardly thought -that even an intimate friend would be unpleasant -enough to remind me of it!” And -she buried her face in the cushions and -wept.</p> - -<p>“Then you are not going to the club -this afternoon? Shall I tell them that you -are busy with the dressmaker, or the -dentist? They know that you can make -everybody else wait.”</p> - -<p>“Tell them nothing. I shall go—and -complain of a cold in the head, which will -explain the pinkness of my nose and eyes.”</p> - -<p>“But will any of them believe you?”</p> - -<p>“All of them. You know those horrid -quinine tablets Evelyn is always wanting -people to try—well, I shall take one of -them publicly. You don’t suppose that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> -any one will suspect me of doing it unnecessarily, -do you?”</p> - -<p>The girl with the dimple in her chin shuddered. -“Impossible,” she said.</p> - -<p>The blue-eyed girl suddenly stopped curling -her hair, and, facing her friend, remarked: -“I can tell you one thing though—Jack -Bittersweet shall pay dearly for this!”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The president of the Teacup club rapped -for order with the handle of her umbrella. -“I am glad to see you all here to-day, in -spite of the weather,” she remarked. “We -have a very interesting topic for discussion. It -is, ‘Woman in Her Character of Heroine.’”</p> - -<p>“Indeed, it is interesting,” said the girl -with the Roman nose. “I only wish you -had thought to mention it to me and I -should have prepared a paper on it. No, -I couldn’t have done it, either, for my -aunt from New Jersey was in town, and I -had to take her sight-seeing. Oh, dear, -aren’t people who live in the country painfully -active? And what ideas they have! -They seem to think Lincoln Park is in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> -back yard and the Statue of Columbus -across the street.”</p> - -<p>“I know a girl who has had a much worse -time than that,” said the brown-eyed -blonde. “She had to take her future -mother-in-law to see the sights. The old -lady had read up in preparation for her -visit, and knew more about the city than -Marie herself. Now, while the poor girl is -being massaged with arnica and things to -get over the effects of her exertion, the old -lady is busy telling her son that such an -ignorant girl can never make a good wife!”</p> - -<p>“Speaking of the bravery of women,” -said the girl with the classic profile, “I -know a girl who early one morning heard a -noise in a large closet next her room, in -which she kept her furs and cloth gowns. -She slipped out of bed and into the hall, and -turned the key, which was fortunately on -the outside, and there she had the burglar -safe in that stifling atmosphere. Then she -fainted.”</p> - -<p>“And no wonder,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. “I should have fainted first.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It took them three-quarters of an hour -to restore her and find out what was the -matter, then they sent for the police, and -what do you think they found?”</p> - -<p>“That the burglar was dead,” breathed -the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“No. It wasn’t a burglar at all; it was -her own father, who had risen early and -gone into the closet to look for a file of papers -which had been kept in the attic for -twenty years. Oh, he said perfectly awful -things when he got breath enough to speak! -Unluckily, too, it happened just at the -time when she needed a lot of new things. -She said that nobody appreciated her -bravery except a man who was paying her -attention at the time, and he didn’t dare -say a word before her father for fear of losing -his good-will.”</p> - -<p>“Humph!” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin, “it only goes to show that -women are really more courageous than -men.”</p> - -<p>“Of course they are,” said the girl with -the eyeglasses. “Why, only the other day<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> -I read of a girl who had a hole bored in one -of her front teeth and a diamond inserted. -Did you ever hear of a man who was brave -enough to go to the dentist unless he really -had to?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said the president. “Oh, girls, I -once had my pocketbook snatched from me -by a boy, and I just ran after him until he -dropped it. I don’t know that I should -have been so brave,” she added, “but for -the fact that, beside my card, it contained -several unpaid bills of which my husband -knew nothing. If the police had caught -the boy with it, they would have communicated -the fact to him, and I never should -have heard the last of those bills.</p> - -<p>“I hope he appreciated your bravery, -anyhow,” said the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“Of course not,” said the president; “his -only comment was that it served me right -for carrying my pocketbook in my hand. -Oh, you can’t make a man understand that -a woman fears nothing. By the way, I wish -several of you would come home to dinner -with me. I broke Tom’s lovely bit of old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> -Venetian glass to-day, and I had rather not -be alone with him when he finds it out.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll go with pleasure,” said the girl -with the Roman nose, “is anybody else -coming?”</p> - -<p>“Nobody but Mr. Troolygood,” said the -president. “I always ask him in such an -emergency, because he prophesied that Tom -would break my heart within two years of -our marriage. Tom knows that, and—well, -I could dance on the graves of his ancestors -if Mr. Troolygood was present, and -Tom would encourage my efforts.”</p> - -<p>“Then, I don’t see why you ask us to-day,” -said the girl with the Roman nose, -“he ought to be—”</p> - -<p>“Sufficient? Yes, I suppose so; but—well, -the truth is that he is rather hard to -entertain, and Tom is so busy in his presence, -being nice to me, that he is no help -at all.”</p> - -<p>“I should be delighted to dine with you, -also,” said the blue-eyed girl, “but really -I have such a cold that I don’t dare to be -out at all after nightfall.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Have you a cold?” said the brown-eyed -blonde, “why, I didn’t notice it when I -met you in the restaurant this morning.”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t you, dear? But then you are -not very observant. You had not even -noticed that there was a wrinkle in the waist -of your new gown, until I pointed it out to -you. Evelyn, dear, mightn’t I take another -of your quinine tablets now? I really -think that I am feeling better already.”</p> - -<p>“Do not take too much of it, dear, if -you value your peace of mind,” said the -girl with the eyeglasses. “I’ve had such an -awful cold this week. I don’t know how I -ever caught it, unless it was sitting in that -hot church on Sunday. Mamma would have -me go, and I—”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you caught it standing on your -front steps Monday evening,” suggested -the girl with the classic profile. “I saw you, -as I passed, and wondered how long—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it was only a moment. The parlor -was full of people, and I just stepped out -with Frank a moment to—to ask him how -he expects to vote at the coming election.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I thought you both looked as if you -were discussing politics. Of course, he had -to think well on the merits of the opposing -candidates before he gave an opinion -and—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, pshaw, it is impossible to know -how one catches cold, and it does one no -good to know, anyhow,” said the girl with -the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“Unless it is some one else’s fault,” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin. “I -have a cold myself, and I don’t dare to -mention the fact to my family. They are -so unsympathetic that they—”</p> - -<p>“Would want you to wrap up and wear -overshoes if it was July,” said the president.</p> - -<p>“They would, they would,” wailed the -girl with the eyeglasses, “well, I just knew -that I had to be well in time to go to Mrs. -Brownsmith’s card party. The way that -Marie tries to attract Frank’s attention is too -dreadful, and I knew she would be there.”</p> - -<p>“If she had to unscrew her coffin lid to -get out,” said the blue-eyed girl.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> - -<p>“M’hm. They wanted me to take all -sorts of horrid remedies at home. I -wouldn’t do it, though; the very idea -made me cross. Finally, on Wednesday, -Frank dropped in to see if I was better and -said I must take some quinine. Of course, -I couldn’t refuse and hurt his feelings, -especially as he remained all the afternoon -and watched me take it. By his advice, I -took a large dose of it that night, and when -I woke up in the morning my cold was -almost gone, but oh, I had the queerest -buzzing in my ears!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, nobody could see that,” said -the president, “so you—”</p> - -<p>“Kept on taking it all day, and was able -to go to the card party, after all; though -the quinine had made me as deaf as a -statue. It made little difference at first, -because Marie kept close at my elbow, and -Frank and I were not alone a moment. I -couldn’t get rid of her at all until, just as -mamma said she would not wait another second -Mrs. Brownsmith called Marie to her, -and Frank—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Improved the moment,” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin. “What did -he say?”</p> - -<p>“I—I don’t know,” sobbed the girl with -the eyeglasses. “He whispered, and I -couldn’t hear. And before I could ask -him to repeat, Marie was at my side. As -he put me into the carriage, he said: ‘You -will let me have my answer by messenger -to-morrow, won’t you?’ And I—I don’t -know w-whether he ask-asked me to marry -him, or only to go to the m-matinee!”</p> - -<p>“You poor, dear martyr,” cried the -president. “Dorothy, dear, you had better -not take any more of those tablets, because—”</p> - -<p>“But dear, Dorothy is in no danger of -having to answer such an important question,” -said the brown-eyed blonde, sweetly.</p> - -<p>“Very true, dear; I have answered it -already—in the negative,” said the blue-eyed -girl. “Ah, you can never know, -Frances, how painful it is to be obliged to -tell a man who loves you that there is no -hope.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Dear, dear,” said the president, hurriedly, -“I’m afraid that, in spite of all my -efforts, we have not discussed to-day’s -topic as consistently as usual. It does -seem to me sometimes that you girls talk -as much as men. Of course you do not expect -to be listened to as they do, still—”</p> - -<p>“I should think not,” said the girl with -the Roman nose; “did I ever tell you of -the time I went to make a round of calls -with Ethel, and—”</p> - -<p>“Found she was leaving her sister’s cards -by mistake?” said the girl with the classic -profile. “Indeed you did. And wasn’t it -funny that she left one for Maria, to whom -her sister hadn’t spoken for a year? Just -like Ethel, too.”</p> - -<p>“This was another time,” said the girl -with the Roman nose. “You know how -much Ethel talks? Well, we called on one -woman I had never met before, and she -asked Ethel subsequently if I was not deaf -and dumb!”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, she knew better when she -met you next time,” said the girl with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> -eyeglasses; “but what is the topic for discussion -to-day?”</p> - -<p>“‘The Heroine of To-day,’” said the -president, “and I think—”</p> - -<p>“I suppose that is the bachelor girl,” -said the brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“Or the one who marries a foreigner,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin. -“Talk about bravery! Why, I knew a girl -who became engaged to a Russian before -she could pronounce his name.”</p> - -<p>“Speaking of that,” said the girl with -the classic profile, “isn’t it horrid of Elizabeth -to send out her wedding cards so long -ahead. No chance this time to say that we -didn’t know it in time to select a present.”</p> - -<p>“I shall pretend that I never received my -invitation at all,” said the president; “one -must protect one’s self somehow.”</p> - -<p>“I do hate to go shopping with her nowadays,” -said the girl with the dimple in her -chin, “if I don’t buy a lot of things myself -I am miserable, and if I do her reproachful -gaze seems to say, ‘I know the cost of this -will come out of my present.’”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> - -<p>“As if you wouldn’t ask your father for -the money for that, anyhow!” said the girl -with the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“I shall do nothing of the kind, dear; it -would make too much trouble. I don’t -know why a man will cheerfully give a wedding -present himself, but let—”</p> - -<p>“One of the women of the family ask for -money for the same purpose and he feels -that he is being robbed,” said the girl with -the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“I suppose it is on the same principle -that makes a man insist upon treating every -other man he meets and then grumble because -his wife wants oysters after the play,” -said the brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“Just as he feeds a girl on candy before -he marries her and then complains of dentists’ -bills afterward,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin; “men are so illogical!”</p> - -<p>“Indeed they are,” said the girl with the -Roman nose; “one of them will keep on -telling a girl that she has a swan-like carriage, -and then think her vain if he catches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> -her watching her own movements in the -glass.”</p> - -<p>“Why does she let him catch her at it?” -queried the girl with the dimple in her chin. -“Oh, girls, you know that awful, dark green -necktie that Dick has been wearing! Well, -I endured it until I felt as if I should scream -if I saw him wear it again, so I begged it -from him; told him that I wanted it as a -souvenir to hang beside his college cap and -his football colors. As soon as he sent it -to me I threw it into the fire.”</p> - -<p>“And he came in before it was reduced -to ashes?” asked the president, in sympathetic -tones.</p> - -<p>“No. He appeared with another just -like it, the very next day—said he didn’t -like it himself, but since I had admired it -and he wanted to please me, he had matched -it before he sent it to me!”</p> - -<p>“And that was your only reward for trying -to save his feelings,” sighed the blue-eyed -girl. “Really, Emily, I often think -you are too good for this world.”</p> - -<p>“At any rate, I shall soon be out of it if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> -so many sorrows are heaped upon my head. -By the way, girls, I’ve been learning to -ride my bicycle, and talking of heroism, I—”</p> - -<p>“How many times have you fallen?” exclaimed -the girl with the classic profile. “I -heard the other day of a girl who learned to -ride in a single lesson, without falling once, -and—”</p> - -<p>“Humph. I’ve often heard of that girl -myself—but I’ve never seen her. I’ve -fallen nineteen times; that is, not counting -the time mamma called after me to be careful, -and the time that Dick said I had ridden -almost a half block since he let go of -my belt—because you know, it was not my -fault that I fell upon either of those occasions!”</p> - -<p>“Of course not,” said the president, -“but, girls, we really must not talk about -bicycling, because if we do we shall drift -away from our discussion, and I can’t bear -to depart, even momentarily, from the high -standard of the club. We were speaking -of Elizabeth a moment ago; has any one -seen her lately?”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Not I,” said the blue-eyed girl. “I -make a point of avoiding the girl who is -about to be married, the mother of the -cleverest baby in the world, and the woman -who is designing her own house. Really, -you know, I don’t mind letting someone -else do all the talking, but I <i>do</i> like a change -of topic once in a while.”</p> - -<p>“I know I was just as sensible as any one -could be while Tom and I were engaged,” -said the president, “and yet, people did act -so oddly. Why, they would go right away -if I began to talk of him at all; they didn’t -even stay long enough to see how sensible I -was.”</p> - -<p>“By the way, I believe that Jane and -Mr. Sooter are engaged,” said the girl with -the classic profile; “Jane denies it but—”</p> - -<p>“Then I think you are mistaken,” said -the girl with the eyeglasses. “I know -Jane, and she seldom understates a case. -Why do you think they are engaged?”</p> - -<p>“He has given up sending her flowers -and candy, and begun presenting bric-a-brac -instead.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Pshaw, that is nothing; he may once -have been engaged to a girl who was a -china maniac, and these may be the presents -she returned.”</p> - -<p>“Possibly. By the way, Kate has grown -so wary now that she only gives the man to -whom she happens to be engaged presents -which she can use after she breaks with -him; never pipes and—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, by the way, I know how her last -engagement came to be broken in so many -pieces that it could never be mended,” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“Do tell us all about it; we are all so -intimate with Kate that we wouldn’t dare -to tell anybody, because it would seem that -we were betraying a confidence,” said the -girl with the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“Well, when she was engaged to Mr. -Yaleblue, she gave him a lovely meerchaum -pipe, which of course came back with her -other presents when the engagement was -broken. By the next Christmas she was -engaged to Dan, and it seemed such a waste -to let it lie in the case, and she gave it to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> -him, telling him a pretty little story of how -she bought it when she was in Paris, and -kept it hanging in her den ready for Prince -Charming when he appeared. You wouldn’t -think a little thing like that would have -broken the engagement, would you?”</p> - -<p>“Why, of course not,” said the girl with -the eyeglasses, “how on earth did—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he just asked how it came that it -was so strong of tobacco!”</p> - -<p>“Dear me, girls,” said the president, “I -am afraid that we really must adjourn, -though there is still a great deal more to -say on both sides of the discussion. But I -have just remembered that I have invited a -whole party of you to dinner, and neglected -to mention the fact to the cook!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter V<br /> - -<small>The Club Settles Some Currency -Problems</small></h2> - - -<p>“The topic for to-day’s discussion will -be ‘Currency Problems of the Present -Day,’” observed the president, after the -club had come to order, “and I hope you -are all prepared—”</p> - -<p>“There is only one currency problem in -the present day—to my knowledge, at -least,” broke in the girl with the classic -profile, “and that is: how to make two -dollars do the work of ten.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me, there is something actually -masculine in your flippancy,” said the president, -with ferocious gentleness. “The question -before us is one of the deepest gravity, -and—”</p> - -<p>“Nobody knows that better than myself,” -said the girl with the classic profile, -“don’t I lie awake night after night, wondering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> -how to get my new things out of the -money my father has allowed me for the -purpose, or, better yet, how to coax more -out of him without letting him realize the -fact.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t talk about money, please; it -makes me blue,” wailed the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “What with never -having enough for myself and constantly -seeing other people with more than I like -them to have, I—”</p> - -<p>“What I want to know is—and you -ought to be able to tell me, girls—why a -woman who looks all sweetness and gentleness -should suddenly develop into a raging -lioness, just because her own son wants to -marry some nice girl,” sighed the girl with -the eyeglasses, waking suddenly out of a -reverie.</p> - -<p>“Humph,” returned the blue-eyed girl, -“there are some things I don’t quite understand -myself—such as the banking system, -and the reason why your dressmaker tells -you calmly that she must have two yards -and a half more of your dress material,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> -when you have plainly informed her that -you bought a remnant. But as for your -question, it is so simple that a man could -answer it. No woman ever did, or ever -will, like to play second fiddle to another -one, and—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, nonsense,” said the girl with the -Roman nose, “it is just a question of tact. -Let a man make his mother believe that she -has chosen his wife and she—”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and wouldn’t it be pleasant to -have your mother-in-law tell you, every -time she wanted you to discharge the cook -or do without a new gown, that her son -would never have married you but for her!” -cried the girl with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“Speaking of mothers-in-law,” said the -girl with the classic profile, “Nell is to have -a new woman in that capacity. I found -her crying the other day because she had -heard that Madame considered her too -domestic to make her son a good wife!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know,” said the blue-eyed girl, -“and did you hear of Alice’s woes? No? -Well, you know, she and Morton fell in love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> -at first sight, and became engaged two -weeks later. After the engagement was -announced, she was invited to visit his people -in Iowa, and went in fear and trembling, -for she did not know much about -them, and Morton could not be there at the -time.”</p> - -<p>“Hadn’t the courage, you mean,” murmured -the girl with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“Very likely, dear. Well, his mother -was as bad as Alice had feared. Her ideas -were all in direct opposition to Morton’s, -and the poor girl almost fretted herself into -nervous prostration trying to please them -both. After all, when she got home, she -found—”</p> - -<p>“That she had been mistaken in her feelings -for Morton, and it didn’t make any -difference whether they were pleased or -not!” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “I -knew how it would end when you began.”</p> - -<p>“No. She discovered that Madame was -only his stepmother, after all! Imagine -trying to please a mother-in-law and a stepmother -combined!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I’d rather not fancy it,” said the president, -with a shudder. “Girls, I only hope -you will be as lucky when you are married -as I am, for—”</p> - -<p>“You aren’t going to tell us all of Tom’s -virtues again, are you?” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin, uneasily.</p> - -<p>“When my mother-in-law becomes unpleasant, -I just ask her to go with me to -spend the day with Tom’s grandmother,” -went on the president, affecting not to hear -the last remark, “she doesn’t dare to refuse, -because the old lady has some china -which we both want, and she’s afraid I -may succeed in wheedling it out of her! It -is great fun to hear my own mother-in-law -lectured by <i>her</i> mother-in-law on the sins -which the former thinks I have appropriated -entirely to my own use.”</p> - -<p>“But, ah—doesn’t Tom’s mother take it -out of you on the way back?” queried the -blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“No, dear. You see, I am careful not -to sit with her in the train, and Tom always -meets us at the station; besides, she’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> -hardly in her usual form, and I could be a -match for her,” she added, modestly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls,” said the brown-eyed blonde, -“speaking of mothers-in-law makes me -think of wedding presents. Did you—oh, -did you hear about the plates I gave Elizabeth?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I did,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin, “and a girl who gives away -old Crown Derby like that is either an angel, -or not quite sane—I don’t know which!”</p> - -<p>“Say anything you like; I haven’t the -spirit to reply. And after you’ve heard -the story—well, it was this way: I ran -across the dozen of them in a little second-hand -shop, and the proprietor didn’t seem -to know their value and asked a very moderate -price.”</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon, dear,” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin, “I take back -all that I said before!”</p> - -<p>“You needn’t. I saw that I could beat -him down, so I didn’t take them then, but -went in a day or two later, taking Elizabeth -along to make sure they were genuine.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> -Really, she does know something about -china, though—”</p> - -<p>“She doesn’t know anything else,” finished -the president. “Well, they were genuine, -weren’t they?”</p> - -<p>“They were, Elizabeth became so affectionate -on the spot that I saw she knew -what I wanted them for. I didn’t take -them then, but went back the next day to -find that the man had raised his price; he -said another person wanted them—as if I’d -believe that. Well, it went on for a week, -until the price demanded was so outrageous -that I should never have paid it, but -for the fact that Elizabeth had told everybody -what lovely Crown Derby plates she -was to have, and I wasn’t going to have -her say that I couldn’t afford them!”</p> - -<p>“I should think not,” said the girl with -the eyeglasses; “besides, it is necessary to -give Elizabeth a handsome present, since -she is marrying a wealthy man.”</p> - -<p>“Of course; if he was poor, a very simple -thing would—ah, be in better taste, so -that the contrast would not be so great.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> - -<p>“M’hm. Well, I bought the plates, and -took them to her myself, because I wanted to -see her face when she opened the package.”</p> - -<p>“But she wasn’t surprised, was she?” -asked the blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“Yes, she was. She—well, she was the -other person who wanted to buy them, and -whose inquiries had trebled the price I had -to pay for them!”</p> - -<p>“In the face of a tragedy like that, it -seems hopeless to offer consolation,” said -the girl with the classic profile. “Still, Elizabeth -will be obliged to give you a handsome -present when you are married.”</p> - -<p>“Let us hope that she will not have had -time to forget her obligations,” said the -blue-eyed girl, sweetly. “Of course, she -has a good memory, but—”</p> - -<p>“I only hope somebody will give her two -chafing-dishes,” broke in the president. “I -only have one, and if I was not the sweetest -tempered mortal in the world Tom and -I would quarrel seriously over it. Perhaps, -I ought not to speak of myself in that -way, but—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You surely ought to know your good -points better than anybody else does,” said -the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“Very true, dear. You see, Tom thinks -he is a chafing-dish cook, and really he <i>can</i> -cook; but the last time he made a rarebit -my waitress gave warning, because of the -state in which she found the dining-room—which -was very mean of her, because we -had waited on ourselves to save trouble.”</p> - -<p>“Partly for that, and partly because you -wanted to talk about Coralie, and her sister -is her cook, I remember—I was there,” -said the blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but she didn’t know that we -wanted to talk about Coralie, and I told her -that it was to save her trouble.”</p> - -<p>“Wasn’t that the time that the rarebit -made you ill, and the doctor couldn’t come -because he, too, had eaten some of it?” -asked the girl with the dimple in her -chin.</p> - -<p>“It was. I told Tom, then, that he -must leave out either the doctor or me -when he made rarebit again!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> - -<p>“With the result?” queried the girl with -the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“That we didn’t speak for three days, -dear. It was during that time, that I went -to Annie’s chafing-dish party. She wanted -me to make a cheese omelette, and I sent -over for the dish. My messenger found -Tom in the dining-room with a whole party -of men—”</p> - -<p>“Cooking on your chafing-dish?”</p> - -<p>“No. Trying to entertain them while -the new waitress hunted for it.”</p> - -<p>“But, where was it? You hadn’t taken -it?”</p> - -<p>“No, dear. The cook had borrowed it -for a chafing-dish party of her own, and -neglected to mention the fact to either Tom -or me!”</p> - -<p>“Then, I suppose really that each family -should possess two chafing-dishes,” said the -brown-eyed blonde, thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>“Yes—or none at all,” said the president, -sighing.</p> - -<p>“Of course I am very much interested in -this discussion,” said the girl with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> -Roman nose; “but I wonder if a thorough -knowledge of currency problems will do us -any practical good. None of us are earning -our own living, and when papa talks -about currency problems at home it is only -to point the moral that times are hard, so—”</p> - -<p>“There is where your knowledge will be -most useful,” broke in the girl with the -dimple in her chin; “you can bring it out -to prove that times are <i>not</i> hard, and run -off a lot of statistics to prove your point.”</p> - -<p>“But I don’t know any statistics,” -wailed the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid you have not been paying -strict attention to-day,” said the president, -gravely. “However, if you are in danger -of losing in an argument, be sure to say, -with a smile of superiority, ‘I suppose you -know what the statistics are?’ Now, people -are not in the habit of carrying statistics -around, like cough-drops, and they will -simply give up the battle on the spot. If -they don’t, rattle off a lot of figures; they -can’t refute them immediately, and if they -attempt to do it afterward, you can just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> -say, in a supercilious tone, ‘I thought we -settled that matter yesterday.’”</p> - -<p>“Well, I declare,” said the girl with the -Roman nose, “that is just my own father’s -line of argument, and yet it never occurred -to me that I could imitate it. I do hope -you will take very good care of your health, -Evelyn,” she added. “People who are -very intellectual are <i>so</i> apt to die young.”</p> - -<p>“I shall,” said the president. “I’ve no -notion of dying and having Tom a widower -while he is still young enough to be attractive. -It would not make so much difference -after that, for I shall take care that he does -not accumulate enough money to make him -fascinating at seventy-five!”</p> - -<p>“Dear, dear,” sighed the blue-eyed girl, -“I wonder why so few men have money -until their hair is only a memory!”</p> - -<p>“Case of the wind being tempered to the -shorn lamb,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin; “after all, a man must sacrifice -something on the altar of success.”</p> - -<p>“Humph; isn’t it usually his wife?” said -the girl with the classic profile.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Not if she is clever,” said the girl with -the eyeglasses. “Girls, I once knew a -woman whose husband made a fortune in -two years, and he wouldn’t give her more -than the merest pittance for dress and entertaining. -In fact, the only bills he would -pay, without grumbling, were those of the -doctor. And what do you think she did? -She selected the doctor whose bills were the -most outrageous, and settled herself to be -a chronic invalid. She said she was determined -to get something out of her husband’s -fortune.”</p> - -<p>“Good,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin; “I do hope she really enjoyed -herself after that.”</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid not. You see, the doctor -seemed anxious to earn his money, and insisted -that she had some desperate disease. -I doubt if she really enjoyed his subsequent -visits.”</p> - -<p>“All her husband’s fault, too,” sighed -the brown-eyed blonde, “and yet, I doubt -if she reproached him for it. It seems to -be a woman’s province to suffer in silence.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, I’ve often heard my mother make -that very remark to my father,” said the -girl with the dimple in her chin. “I had -rather not quote his reply. Girls, I heard -the funniest story yesterday; Annie -wouldn’t tell me who was the heroine of -it, really, sometimes she is as provoking as -a man. I’ll be even with her, however, -for I’ll never rest until I find out who it -was, then I shall tell everybody, and Annie -will never be able to convince her that she -didn’t tell the whole. It seems that this -girl had quarreled with the man to whom -she was engaged, and a week later she received -a letter addressed in his handwriting. -She did think of taking it to a mind reader, -but it was near the end of the month, and -she hadn’t the money, so—”</p> - -<p>“By the way, Emily, dear, when can you -come to lunch with me?” broke in the girl -with the eyeglasses. “I don’t see half as -much of you as I’d like to, and—”</p> - -<p>“Any day you like, dear. Where was I? -Oh! She hadn’t the money, and the tea -kettle happened to be handy, so she—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But, why not open it with a hair-pin, -like any other letter?” asked the blue-eyed -girl.</p> - -<p>“She wanted to return it unopened if she -didn’t like its contents. It proved to be -perfectly horrid; he not only didn’t acknowledge -that he was in the wrong, but he -actually brought forward facts to prove that -she was! Of course, no girl would endure -that, so—”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to say that Annie told -you that?” asked the girl with the eyeglasses. -“I didn’t think it possible that any -girl—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t see any harm in that; of -course every girl wants her own way. -Well, she sealed up the letter again, wrote -on it, ‘Returned unopened’ and sent it -back.”</p> - -<p>“H’m,” said the girl with the Roman -nose, “I was thinking that might have been -Clarissa, but she is too intellectual to do -anything so clever. Anyhow, I’m glad -she got the better of him.”</p> - -<p>“But she didn’t, dear. She discovered,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> -after the messenger had been gone an hour, -that she had sealed up the envelope without -replacing the letter in it! Can any of you -guess who it was that—”</p> - -<p>“Not I,” said the blue-eyed girl, “but if -I had done such a thing, I should never -have trusted Annie with it. Why, are you -going, dear?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going over to Annie’s this very -minute,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“I—I have something to say to her that -will touch even <i>her</i> hardened conscience!”</p> - -<p>“So it was Marion, after all,” mused the -girl with the dimple in her chin, after the -door had closed behind her friend; “well, at -any rate, after this Annie will tell me the -whole of a story when she begins it.”</p> - -<p>“I must say, though, that if I was in her -place it would be a long time before I began -one,” said the brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“So you, too, have been confiding in -Annie?” said the blue-eyed girl, sweetly. -“By the way, I am to stay over night with -her, but I promise you that whatever she -may repeat will be safe with me.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> - -<p>“While we are discussing currency problems, -I want to say what a nuisance the -check system is,” said the girl with the -classic profile. “I always did hate to get -my money in that way, and I had an experience -the other day which surely ought -to cure my father of giving them to me.”</p> - -<p>“Mercy, you weren’t suspected of being -a forger, were you?” asked the president, -turning pale.</p> - -<p>“N—no, I believe not, but—it happened -that my father gave me a check when I was -going shopping, and I found before I cashed -it that I must have five dollars more. Father -had gone to Indianapolis, and mother, -well—the fact is, that she will not loan me -money any more, because I sometimes forget -to return it. I didn’t know what to do -until I suddenly remembered that Ned -Goldie was the person who had to cash the -check for me at the bank; then I knew I -was safe. Pshaw, it just shows that you -can never depend on a man!”</p> - -<p>“He surely did not refuse to cash it?” -asked the president.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> - -<p>“N—no, but he—girls, I’ll tell you just -what I did. I said, ‘By the way, Mr. -Goldie, just give me five dollars more, will -you? Father can make it right next time -he comes in.’ And, if you will credit the -fact, he actually said he couldn’t do it. A -man with whom I had danced the german -the evening before!”</p> - -<p>“I never believed Ned Goldie would be -so stingy,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “What excuse did he make?”</p> - -<p>“Said it was against the rules of the -bank, but he would be delighted to <i>lend</i> me -the extra five dollars. Did you ever hear -of such impertinence in your life? As soon -as my father comes home, I shall tell -him that he must transfer his account to -another bank, for after this I feel that Mr. -Goldie is not a person to be trusted with -money!”</p> - -<p>“Dear, dear,” said the president, -gravely, “that is very bad. Don’t mention -it outside of the club, girls; for if the -bank directors found that he was being rude -to the daughter of one of their customers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> -he would lose his position at once. And -there may be some apology or explanation -he can make to your father, too, dear; -though I confess I don’t see what it can -be. Well, girls, I’m afraid we must adjourn, -and I must say frankly that I am -pleased with the work we have done to-day. -The only reason that I suggested -such a weighty topic for discussion was, -that Tom had declared that the club was -unable to grapple with it. After that, of -course the only thing possible was to show -him that he was wrong.”</p> - -<p>“Which you can now do conclusively,” -said the girl with the Roman nose, “and I -am quite sure he will be surprised at the -novelty of some of the arguments advanced -this afternoon!”</p> - -<p>“What is it, dear?” asked the girl with -the dimple in her chin, as she and the blue-eyed -girl turned the corner. “You have -been so bright and cheerful to-day, that I -am sure something is seriously wrong.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed there is. Jack has behaved -abominably! It was enough when he told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> -Effie that Frances is the most amiable girl -he ever knew; but—”</p> - -<p>“That proves conclusively that he is not -engaged to her, dear. No man ever knows -anything about a girl’s temper until he <i>is</i> -engaged to her.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, if you want to defend him, I shall -say no more; but I did think—”</p> - -<p>“But, I don’t want to defend him. I -only—”</p> - -<p>“Then, all I’ve got to say, Emily Marshmallow, -is that you are prejudiced against -the poor fellow. I might have known that -from the start. I only wish I had not taken -your advice and broken my engagement.”</p> - -<p>“But, you didn’t do it on my advice,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin; -“it was all done before you said a word to -me about it.”</p> - -<p>“Well, anyhow, I knew you would advise -me to do it; and now you are not satisfied -with what I’ve done. But go on, -don’t spare me—I am too miserable to care -to defend myself! I—I don’t believe I -shall live very long, anyhow. I shall tell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> -them to give you my marquise ring, as a -token of forgiveness, when I’m gone. I -hope you will remember me when you look -at it—and be sure to notice if the stones -are quite secure in their setting.”</p> - -<p>“I w—will; I promise you,” sobbed the -girl with the dimple in her chin; “but don’t -you think a trip—well a trip to Old Point -Comfort might save your life. They tell -me it is very gay there now!”</p> - -<p>The blue-eyed girl shook her head. -“Nothing can save me now, dear; why I -can hook all my gowns now without holding -my breath, and yesterday I ate no -luncheon at all—took nothing between -breakfast and dinner but a couple of cream -sodas, a box of caramels, and a cup or two -of afternoon tea. You know nobody can -live long at that rate. Well, I am sorry for -Jack Bittersweet when I am gone; a lifetime -of remorse and—and Frances is not a -pleasant thing to look forward to!”</p> - -<p>“You haven’t told me yet about Jack, -dear, so—”</p> - -<p>“True; and some one should know the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> -true story when I am no more. Here is -the place where they make such nice chocolate; -let us stop in and drink a cup while I -tell you. You take the chair facing the -mirror, dear,” she said, as they selected a -table, “my personal appearance is no longer -a matter of importance to me.”</p> - -<p>“You said that Jack—”</p> - -<p>“Has behaved abominably. It is a long -story, but I—I shall probably never tell -you another long story, so you can -afford to listen to this one. You know the -little beggar boy with the beautiful brown -eyes that I told you about a week or two -ago?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; but about Jack. I—”</p> - -<p>“This is about Jack. I told you how I -sympathized with that boy’s sad story, and -went with him to investigate it, didn’t I?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but you never told me whether his -home was—”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t get there. He led me through -the most awful slums, telling me all the -time how his father would beat him, when -he failed to bring money home, and how he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> -knew I was the beautiful lady he had -dreamed of, as soon as he saw me.”</p> - -<p>“Well? Go on, dear.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, nothing; only the horrid little -wretch suddenly dived down an alley and -disappeared; and, oh, Emily, I—I believe -he made a face at me as he went! Worse -yet, when I felt for my pocketbook it was -gone, and I had to walk all the way home!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness, had he taken it?”</p> - -<p>“I surely had not given it to him. I had -almost forgotten the affair, when the cook -came up yesterday to tell me that he was -in the kitchen, and had brought my pocketbook -back, with a long story about having -seen another boy take it. Said he had followed -him, when he left me, and taken it -away from him, in turn.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I declare; and there was all your -money intact after you had doubted his -honesty!”</p> - -<p>“Not a cent of it, dear; and the cook -said he was wearing a nice new suit. I told -her she had better go back to the kitchen, -and count the spoons, and I called loudly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> -after her, ‘Tell him I never want to see his -deceitful face again!’ The housemaid had -come to the door of my room, too, and was -trying to put in a word, but I wouldn’t -listen to her.”</p> - -<p>“Trying to excuse the little wretch; the -idea!”</p> - -<p>“That was what I thought. But, oh, -Emily, just then the front door closed with -a bang which shook the house to its foundations, -and then I noticed for the first time -that the housemaid was trying to give me a -card!”</p> - -<p>“Good gracious, Dorothy, you never -mean to say—”</p> - -<p>“That it was Jack’s! Indeed I do. He -had heard me scream over the bannister -‘Tell him to go away; I never want to see -his deceitful face again.’ And he—he must -have thought I meant it for him. Oh, -Emily, was there ever such a miserable girl -as I!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter VI<br /> - -<small>The Pioneer New Woman</small></h2> - - -<p>“I think the topic for to-day’s discussion -should be ‘The Pioneer New Woman,’” -observed the president of the Teacup Club. -“Have you all got that down in your note-books? -You don’t know how it pleases -me to see your methodical ways; it shows -the real intellectual advancement of our -club. Why, for my part, I have gained so -much that I am not afraid to discuss any -subject with any one.”</p> - -<p>“We have advanced,” said the brown-eyed -blonde. “I feel it, too. By the way, -has any one seen my note-book? I haven’t -had it for three weeks—are you sure that -none of you have gotten it by mistake? I -forgot to put my name in it, and—”</p> - -<p>“I know where it is,” said the girl with -the classic profile. “You loaned it to Kate—she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> -told me so herself,—in order that she -might read up on some of the topics we -have already discussed, and so qualify for -admission to the club.”</p> - -<p>“I shall blackball her, for my part,” -spoke up the girl with the dimple in her -chin. “She is so frivolous that she would -drag down our high standard. Besides, she -once left me out when she gave a luncheon, -and told people that it was because she had -all the decorations in yellow, and feared -they would not shade with my complexion.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, Kate is color blind, any -way,” said the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“Yes, and she is a little deaf, too,” remarked -the president, “and really does not -know just how sharp her own speeches -sound.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps not,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin, “but I shall blackball -her just the same. By the way, Alice is -giving a birthday dinner party next week—twenty-six -covers, one for each year. Clever -idea, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“For whose birthday?” asked the girl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> -with the classic profile. “Her own? Ah, -really, I knew she was forgetful, but this is -carrying it too far.”</p> - -<p>“I wonder why otherwise sensible people -will tell such stories about their ages,” said -the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“I’m sure I don’t know,” said the -brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“Neither do I,” said the girl with the -classic profile.</p> - -<p>“Of course, it doesn’t matter who knows -my age, as yet,” said the brown-eyed -blonde.</p> - -<p>“Nor mine,” remarked the girl with the -classic profile.</p> - -<p>“Nor mine, either,” said the girl with -the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“No, indeed,” said the brown-eyed -blonde; “I got twenty-two birthday gifts -the other day on my twenty-second birthday.”</p> - -<p>“Are you twenty-two? Why, so am I!” -cried the girl with the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“Just my own age, too,” said the girl -with the eyeglasses.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> - -<p>“And mine; how odd!” cried the girl -with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“That is one of the advantages of the -new womanhood,” said the president; “its -beautiful candor. Now, I tell everybody -that I am twenty-two years old.”</p> - -<p>“I wish you would tell Mrs. Van Tompkins,” -said the girl with the classic profile. -“She wouldn’t take my word for it the -other day, though I told her that I couldn’t -be mistaken, as you had told me so at least -six times in the last eighteen months.”</p> - -<p>“Cora asked me the other day if there -was any age qualification for membership in -this club,” remarked the girl with the eyeglasses, -during the slight pause which followed -the last speech. “She says she has -not yet celebrated her twenty-first birthday.”</p> - -<p>“Born on the 29th of February, then, -wasn’t she?” asked the brown-eyed blonde. -“Yes, it is true that the new womanhood is -breaking down old traditions. We are not -at all jealous of each other now.”</p> - -<p>“Of course not,” said the girl with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> -dimple in her chin; “we have learned to -value our own attractions properly. Why, -the other day I stopped Amy and Fred to -tell her there was a dab of powder on her -nose. Formerly another girl would have -been jealous of her dazzling complexion, -and let her go on as she was.”</p> - -<p>“How sweet of you,” murmured the girl -with the eyeglasses; “and yet, I doubt if -she was really grateful.”</p> - -<p>“That was not the question, dear; I—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear,” broke in the president, “if -my watch is right it is time to adjourn, and -yet. Why, here is Elise! What has made -you late to-day?”</p> - -<p>“A discussion with a stupid man,” cried -the girl with the Roman nose. “Only -think, he actually said that no woman was -mathematician enough to count up her own -birthdays correctly. I was so enraged—why, -he said that ‘I am twenty-two’ is the -same thing to a girl as ‘Polly wants a -cracker’ is to a parrot, or the Spanish fandango -to a guitar player—but what on earth -is wrong? You all look so queer.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It’s nothing at all, dear,” said the blue-eyed -girl. “We were just looking at your -new hat, that is all. I think your watch -must have stopped, Evelyn dear, for mine -is only—”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it has,” said the president. -“Tom talks so much, sometimes, that I -quite forget to wind it.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, it needs a rest sometimes,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin. -“I know that mine—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear!” said the president, “I know -I am a fright to-day, and nothing but a -sense of duty has brought me here. Why, -I actually have not had a chance to curl my -hair properly for six days, and—”</p> - -<p>“Been getting ready your new gown, -have you?” said the girl with the classic -profile. “I only wish I had mine off my -mind.”</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t my new gown,” said the -president. “It was Tom. He has had a -heavy cold, and the house smells so strong -of camphor that there will not be a moth -within a block of it this year. I don’t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> -mind being bidden a tragic farewell at mid-day, -but I do mind being waked up at midnight -for that purpose.”</p> - -<p>“But it was nothing serious, was it?” -asked the brown-eyed blonde. “I thought -the other day, when he came to the top of -the stairs and called to you that he was -dying, that a man who was breathing his -last would manage to do it with less noise.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, pshaw!” said the president. “That -was nothing to the time he waked me up at -one o’clock in the morning to tell me that -he was dying, but if I let that mug-faced -young preacher who used to come to see me, -officiate at his funeral he would come back -and haunt me. It took a hot-water bottle, -a mustard plaster, two hot toddies, and the -camphor to quiet him that time.”</p> - -<p>“Humph!” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin; “I wonder why a man always -thinks a cold or a boil fatal—when he has it?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he doesn’t himself,” said the -girl with the Roman nose; “but he always -wants the women of the family to act as if -they did.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Very true,” said the girl with the eyeglasses; -“but do you know what Dolly -does? As soon as her husband complains -of being ill she begins to weep and tear her -hair and lament that he will die, she knows -he will. That frightens him, and when she -insists upon putting him to bed, and giving -him a bowl of hot ginger tea (which he detests), -he pretends that he was only joking, -and flees to the office, when she calls him -up every half-hour to ask how he is. She -says he seldom complains of his health nowadays.”</p> - -<p>“You know my sister Amelia, don’t -you?” said the girl with the classic profile. -“Well, her husband had a heavy cold last -week. He waked her up at two o’clock to -tell her that he was dying, and that he knew -he had not been a good husband to her, and -could not go without her forgiveness. She -wept, and said that he had not been very nice -to her, and had never given her half enough -money. Upon this, the dying man sat up, -and began to argue the case. From argument -they passed to something warmer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> -He went down to the office next day, and -hasn’t said a word about dying since.”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t mind Tom thinking he was -dying once in awhile,” said the president, -“if he’d only allow me the same privilege -occasionally. He won’t, though; he comes -in and says, cheerfully, ‘Oh, you’ll soon -be all right. You should have seen how -much worse I was once when I had it, and -never missed a day at the office, either!’ -The last time he did that my throat was too -sore for me to reply properly, and I really -thought I should die of rage.”</p> - -<p>“And no wonder,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “As if a woman -couldn’t always stand more than a man, -anyhow! For instance, I wonder how -many of them could go out in thin shoes, -and without overshoes, as we do. And yet -you never hear a girl say that she has -caught cold in that way.”</p> - -<p>“Never,” said the blue-eyed girl; “we -have too much fortitude. My cousin -Edith’s husband used to be always complaining -of his health, until this last winter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> -I wondered what had caused his miraculous -recovery, until she told me a few days ago. -She was away from home, and received a -telegram, saying that she must come at -once if she wanted to see him alive. The -message was delayed, being improperly addressed, -and when she reached home, expecting -to find him dead, he met her at the -door. It seems that he had called in a new -doctor, who was the cause of his miraculous -recovery. He said he would never have -another physician to prescribe for him as -long as he lived.”</p> - -<p>“Completely cured, eh?” said the president.</p> - -<p>“Not that time. Next time he was ill, -and the new doctor appeared, he turned out -to be an old admirer of Edith’s. Her husband -is frightfully jealous, and Edith’s -potential second husband is a very real person -to him. Edith, as nurse, always went -out into the hall to talk with the doctor -after his call. She says she is sure that she -did not remain away so <i>very</i> long; but when -she came back, after the first visit, her husband<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> -sulked; after the second, he raved; -and after the third, he got up, declaring -he’d live, if only to spite them both. And -now, the doctor points to him as an example -of his remarkable healing powers,” -she added.</p> - -<p>“Speaking of old sweethearts,” said the -president, “what do you think happened to -me the other day? I was calling on Mrs. -Vansmith and her guest, as she had requested. -Both of them happened to be -out, and, to my annoyance, I found I had -no cards with me. At last I found one of -Tom’s in my card-case, and I left that, -knowing that Mrs. Vansmith would understand.”</p> - -<p>“Well, and didn’t she?” asked the girl -with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps. But the visitors didn’t. It -turned out that she used to be engaged to -Tom; while I was in the kindergarten, I -suppose. It seems that his card was handed -to her; and you should have seen the unbelieving -smile with which she listened to -my explanation of the matter!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You poor, dear,” said the blue-eyed -girl, “you must have been as angry as if -somebody had trodden on your gown. A -rather unpleasant thing happened to Florence -the other day, too; Molly was calling -on her, and a note was handed in. She -thought it was from Teddy Crœsus, and -pretending that she had ink on her fingers, -asked Molly to open it for her, which she did.”</p> - -<p>“How stupid of Molly; she might have -known that it was some trick of Florence’s,” -said the girl with the eyeglasses. “Was it -a proposal from Teddy?”</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t from Teddy at all; handwritings -are so much alike nowadays. It was a -bill from the hairdresser, of whom Florence -had bought those lovely little curls which -cluster around her brow—and Molly read it -aloud, as she had requested.”</p> - -<p>“But who told you about it?” said the -girl with the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“Molly. You didn’t suppose it was -Florence, did you? I declare, it made me -feel like trying to persuade both of them to -join our club. There isn’t a girl in it that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> -would do such a mean thing, and the example -might—”</p> - -<p>“No, it wouldn’t; they are too frivolous,” -said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“Oh, girls, I sometimes wish that the men -who dance with us could hear the serious -discussions which go on in this club,—so harmoniously, -too.”</p> - -<p>“True,” said the president, “not one unkind -word has been spoken, even of the -absent, since we organized. I wonder if as -much can be said of any other club.”</p> - -<p>“I doubt it,” said the blue-eyed girl; -“and it isn’t as if we couldn’t think of -clever things to say about people, either.”</p> - -<p>“Of course not,” returned the girl with -the Roman nose; “why, I know some -things, even about the other members, -which—”</p> - -<p>“So do I,” said the girl with the classic -profile. “Why, I heard the other day that -you—”</p> - -<p>“Of course I wouldn’t mention, for the -world,” finished the girl with the Roman -nose, in some agitation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I thought not, dear; it would hardly be -wise,” said the girl with the eyeglasses, -“for you, especially.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure, I don’t see why I, es—”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you, dear? But, then, you -never were clever,” said the president. -“Yes, I am very proud of the amiability we -have all displayed since joining the club. I -must say that I didn’t expect—”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see why not,” said the blue-eyed -girl. “As for me, I can get along with -anybody, so I was not at all afraid.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear,” said the brown-eyed blonde, -“your tongue would be a protection, even -if—”</p> - -<p>“Other people were even <i>more</i> envious of -me? That is hardly possible, dear; but -I thank you for your good opinion of -me.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t overwhelm me with gratitude, -dearest; I really do not deserve it.”</p> - -<p>“But, luckily for you, love, people seldom -get their deserts.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls, don’t quarrel,” said the -president, wringing her hands; “I’ve always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> -wanted this to be different from a man’s -club, and now—”</p> - -<p>“Really, Evelyn, you seem to be the one -who is doing the quarreling,” said the -brown-eyed blonde, tartly. “As for me, I -am naturally amiable, and—”</p> - -<p>“It is not your fault if your temper <i>is</i> a -bit soured by repeated disappointments,” -broke in the blue-eyed girl; “of course not. -Everybody says it is no wonder.”</p> - -<p>“I—I resign from this club,” sobbed the -brown-eyed blonde. “I’ll not stay here another -minute to be insulted!”</p> - -<p>“Girls, girls,” said the president, “do be -reasonable. I—”</p> - -<p>“This is the first time <i>I</i> was ever accused -of being unreasonable,” said the girl with -the Roman nose; “and all I’ve got to say -is, that I pity Tom from the bottom of my -heart, and—”</p> - -<p>“I don’t doubt but that you’d be glad -to comfort him—if I was dead,” sobbed the -president. “If this is all I am to get for -keeping you at peace during the meetings, -I’ll just resign, and let you run the club to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> -suit yourselves. And a p-pretty mess you-you’ll -make of it!” And she retired behind -her handkerchief.</p> - -<p>“I’ll resign, too, this very minute,” said -the girl with the Roman nose. “I knew -just how it would be when Dorothy asked -me to join the club, but—”</p> - -<p>“You were afraid to refuse, lest something -happen, and you didn’t know all -about it,” finished the blue-eyed girl. -“Well, I wish to tender <i>my</i> resignation -from the club, to take effect at once.”</p> - -<p>“And so do I,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“And I,” said the girl with the classic -profile.</p> - -<p>“I, too,” said the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“W—why, then, there’s nobody left!” -exclaimed the blue-eyed girl, gazing about -the room in astonishment. “Oh, w—what -will all the men of our set say when they -hear of this!” she wailed.</p> - -<p>“I never thought of that!” said the girl -with the Roman nose. “I know well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> -enough, though, without thinking,” she -added.</p> - -<p>“They will say that women never <i>can</i> -agree among themselves,” sobbed the girl -with the dimple in her chin, “and they will -keep on saying it, in spite of the fact that -it is a baseless libel!”</p> - -<p>“Of—of course, I am not an—angry, -only hurt,” sobbed the president.</p> - -<p>“I am not angry at all,” said the blue-eyed -girl, “only distressed that the -others—”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure I—I haven’t a hard feeling -against any—anybody,” wailed the girl -with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“Nor I,” said the girl with the classic -profile.</p> - -<p>“Mercy, no,” said the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“If anybody is sorry for having hurt my -feelings, I am quite ready to forgive it,” -said the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“And so am I,” said the brown-eyed -blonde.</p> - -<p>“Then, I don’t see that any of us need<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> -resign,” said the president. “Does anybody -remember the topic under discussion?”</p> - -<p>“‘The Pioneer New Woman,’” said the -blue-eyed girl, “and a very interesting topic -it is, I’m sure.”</p> - -<p>“Hear, hear,” said the girl with the -Roman nose, as she tucked her handkerchief -into her belt.</p> - -<p>“One thing is always a mystery to me,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin; -“why does no female creature ever acknowledge -that she is a new woman until -she is quite an old one?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, by that time her years will -entitle her to a seat in a street car, even if -she wears bloomers,” thoughtfully replied -the president.</p> - -<p>“Who really <i>was</i> the pioneer new -woman?” asked the girl with the classic -profile.</p> - -<p>“Eve; although, she did not call herself -by that name, I believe,” returned the -blue-eyed girl. “So far as I can see, the -new woman is just like all the rest of us—she -wants to get everything she can out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> -the world, and give as little as possible in -return.”</p> - -<p>“And it is perfectly natural that she -should,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“The only way we can make the men give -us what we really want, is by asking for a -great deal more, so that they will think -themselves lucky if we compromise on what -we originally decided to have.”</p> - -<p>“Hear! hear!” said the girl with the -Roman nose, making an entry into her -note-book, “I’ve been acting on that -theory all my life, but I never thought to -formulate it.”</p> - -<p>“Pardon me for the suggestion,” said the -president, “but I hope you are not in the -habit of leaving that note-book around -where any man can see it.”</p> - -<p>“It wouldn’t make any difference if I -did, dear. I went to such a fashionable -school that no one but myself can ever read -my chirography—I can’t myself, if it was -written long enough ago for me to have -quite forgotten what I said.”</p> - -<p>“Then, you needn’t be uneasy about any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> -old love letters which have not been returned,” -said the brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“Not at all. Nobody could tell whether -I had written a promise of undying affection -or a recipe for hair tonic.”</p> - -<p>“I do wish my father had sent me to the -same school,” said the brown-eyed blonde, -sorrowfully.</p> - -<p>“Pshaw, old letters don’t tell half as -many tales as old photographs,” said the -girl with the eyeglasses, sighing. “I know a -girl who had been engaged to a man who -returned everything she had given him except -one photograph. She couldn’t refuse -to let him keep it when he begged so hard.”</p> - -<p>“He had probably lost it, and didn’t -know how to account for its absence,” said -the president.</p> - -<p>“No, he hadn’t. Well, six years later, -she became engaged to another man. I -fancy she must have told him some stories -about her age.”</p> - -<p>“It’s always better to understate rather -than overstate a case,” said the blue-eyed -girl.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> - -<p>“So my old nurse used to say. Well, -when she was about to be married, her old -lover sent her a beautiful present, and with -it an envelope addressed to her fiancé.”</p> - -<p>“Which she should have opened herself,” -said the president, promptly.</p> - -<p>“He happened to be present when the -box was opened, dear. The envelope contained -the photograph taken seven years -before—”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t she say that—”</p> - -<p>“It was a picture of her elder sister? -She did, dear. What really caused the -trouble was her own name, and the date on -the back of it, coupled with the statement -that it was taken on her twenty-second -birthday!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness, how sly men are?” -said the president. “And to think that -never, as long as she lived, could that girl -tell him what she really thought of him!”</p> - -<p>“I know. She used to say that she -sometimes regretted that she <i>hadn’t</i> married -him.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, he is probably married to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> -somebody else, by this time, anyhow,” said -the president, “though I doubt if his wife -would fully appreciate the enormity of his behavior, -since it was toward another woman.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind,” said the brown-eyed -blonde, “people are sure to be punished in -some way or another. I wouldn’t get up -early on Sunday morning, and go to church -if I did not firmly believe that.”</p> - -<p>“Goodness me,” said the president, “it -must be awfully late, girls, and I promised -Tom to adjourn early and meet him down -town. I do wonder if he has been waiting -for me all this time!”</p> - -<p>“I’ve seen Jack,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin, as the friends went -down the stairs; “met him on the street -this morning.”</p> - -<p>“And, I suppose you hurried right on, -and never said a civil word to him,” returned -the blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“Indeed I didn’t. I called after him to -wait for me, and—”</p> - -<p>“And I suppose he thought that I had -told you to talk to him, since you were so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> -eager. You needn’t tell me a word that -you said—I don’t want to hear anything -about it. Did—did he look sort of hollow-eyed -and worn?”</p> - -<p>“‘M—I can’t say that he did. But he -said that he thought he must give up chafing-dish -suppers.”</p> - -<p>“I should think he must have bad -dreams,” said the blue-eyed girl, viciously.</p> - -<p>“He—he told me that he had called at -your house the other day, and—”</p> - -<p>“I suppose you let him go on thinking -that I meant that message for him. A -nice friend you are, Emily Marshmallow!”</p> - -<p>“Why, Dorothy, I—”</p> - -<p>“You don’t surely mean that you explained -it all, and actually let him think -that I wanted to apologize! Well, if anybody -had told me such a thing of you, I -never would have believed it.”</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin, “I didn’t say a word, -for just then Frances joined us; and if <i>you</i> -are clever enough to get a private word with -any man, after Frances sees him, I am not!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter VII<br /> - -<small>Woman in Legislation</small></h2> - - -<p>“Let us discuss ‘Woman in Legislation,’ -to-day,” said the president. “I had written -you a note, Marion, to prepare a paper -on it, but I found it in my desk this morning.”</p> - -<p>“Too bad,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“I should have been delighted to -do it.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Marion,” cried the girl with the -Roman nose, “have you forgotten? You -said you were too busy painting dinner -cards to touch it. That was when I told -you that Evelyn wanted you to do it, you -remember.”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t,” snapped the girl with the -eyeglasses. “Of course I shan’t have a -minute to prepare a paper for next week; -but I should have been delighted to—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Girls,” said the president, “only think! -Tom says this club is actually making me -masculine.”</p> - -<p>“Mercy, you must have convinced him -that you had the better of him in an argument,” -cried the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“No—but I forgot to mail some letters -he intrusted to me the other day when he -was going out of town. By the way, it -seems to me that when legislation is in the -hands of women. What are you girls whispering -about over there in the corner?”</p> - -<p>“We are only comparing samples of bicycle -suitings,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin. “Dorothy has a larger selection -than I, and—”</p> - -<p>“Why, I have a lot of them, myself,” -said the president. “Has anybody seen my -hand-bag since I came in?”</p> - -<p>“Here it is,” said the girl with the -Roman nose. “I’ve just been comparing -your samples with mine, and I find—”</p> - -<p>“Goodness me, I’m late,” said the -brown-eyed blonde, as she bounced into -the room. “I just stopped on my way here<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> -to look at a new design for bicycle suits, -and—”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been trying for half a block to -catch you, Frances,” said the girl with the -classic profile, as she opened the door, in -turn; “I’ve been looking at the new bicycles, -and was detained longer than I expected.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, shall you get a new wheel this -year?” asked the president.</p> - -<p>“No, dear,” returned the girl with the -classic profile; “but, of course, I wanted to -see what they are like.”</p> - -<p>“Naturally,” said the girl with the -Roman nose. “My dears, you never heard -of such luck as mine. You know papa said -I shouldn’t have a new bicycle this year, if -I had to walk—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, if you call that luck,” said the -blue-eyed girl, “my father said the same -thing.”</p> - -<p>“So did mine,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“Wait until you hear the rest,” said the -girl with the Roman nose, “I had my old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> -machine set in order, and expected to have -to do with it all this season. The other -day, I went into the store-room to have a -look at it, and, to my surprise, found it all -splashed with mud, the enamel scratched, -and—”</p> - -<p>“The cook had been riding it, of -course,” broke in the president.</p> - -<p>“I knew that at once, and I went to tell -mamma she must discharge her on the spot. -However, mamma was lying down with a -headache, and as I had some shopping, a -luncheon, two teas and a dinner on hand -that day, I had no chance to speak to her. -Two days later, I remembered it, and went -in to look at it—I knew that mamma was -so prejudiced against bicycling that I must -make the case very bad to excite her sympathy. -It was bad enough, by this time, -too; one pedal was all bent, the handle-bar -was broken, and the enamel was a sight!”</p> - -<p>“I hope you made your mother discharge -that cook on the spot!” said the blue-eyed -girl.</p> - -<p>“I rushed right up to mamma’s room to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> -do it. I opened the door, and a familiar -odor greeted me—a combination of arnica -and witch hazel, and—”</p> - -<p>“You forgot all about the cook. Had -your mother fallen downstairs?”</p> - -<p>“No; she hadn’t. The cook had been -trying to teach her to ride my bicycle; she -had a black eye, a sprained shoulder, and a -skinned face. The cook had gone home -with a dislocated collar-bone, and I had to -wait on mamma, and do all the cooking for -two days!”</p> - -<p>“And you call that luck!” groaned the -president.</p> - -<p>“Not that, dear. But mamma gave me -a beautiful new wheel for keeping the whole -thing from papa’s ears. And I sold the -old one for enough to buy me a lovely new -suit,” she added, triumphantly.</p> - -<p>“I am glad <i>somebody</i> has had a stroke -of luck,” said the brown-eyed blonde. -“As for me, I’ve just had an object-lesson -in the selfishness of this world, which is -enough to make a misanthrope of me for -life.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Mercy, has your grandmother decided -to buy a wheel for herself instead of for -you?” asked the blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“No. But you see it scratches the -enamel to learn on a wheel—not to mention -the other accidents which may befall it. -Now, Nell’s bicycle is old, and I sent to -borrow it to ride while I was taking my lessons. -She actually refused it, unless I -would lend her my new one while I had -hers. Did you ever hear of such selfishness -in your life?”</p> - -<p>“Never,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin. “By the way, I suppose Jack -Bittersweet will teach you to ride?”</p> - -<p>“Why, yes; but how did you guess it?” -There was a note of triumph in her voice.</p> - -<p>“Oh, that was easy enough. He is -always teaching somebody, you know. I -told him the other day that I was afraid -people would soon think him a professional.”</p> - -<p>“B—but he told me that he only teaches -people whom he—likes,” said the brown-eyed -blonde, faintly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why, of course, dear. But, Jack -hasn’t a bit of discretion; he likes everything -that wears petticoats, I verily believe.”</p> - -<p>“Oh—I— By the way, Evelyn, dear, -what is to-day’s topic? You had started -the discussion when I came, and I didn’t -like to interrupt you to ask.”</p> - -<p>“It is ‘Woman in Legislation,’” said -the president, after a peep at her note-book, -“By the way, Frances, I know the cheapest -place in town for arnica, if you want—”</p> - -<p>“Mine doesn’t cost anything, dear. -Papa always has a bill at the drug store. I -know the clerk, and he has promised if I -use a very large quantity to put it down as -toilet soap and postage stamps. Papa has -never ridden you know, and he might not -understand.”</p> - -<p>“Very true,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“What a comfort bicycling is, -anyhow. For instance, if you meet a -strange man, and the conversation lags—”</p> - -<p>“Get it on bicycles, and it runs smoothly -enough,” said the president.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I wish <i>I</i> could do the same,” wailed the -brown-eyed blonde. “Well it is lucky for -me that the dancing season is over, for my -arms are a perfect sight.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, if it is only your arms!” said the -girl with the Roman nose, cheerfully. “<i>I</i> -always fell on my face when I was learning. -The only comforting thing about that was, -that I soon became unrecognizable, and -could fall right up and down my own street -without a soul knowing who I was. It was -very convenient, too, for they hadn’t far -to take me when I had a really bad accident.”</p> - -<p>“How long did you have to wait to sit -for your photograph?” asked the blue-eyed -girl.</p> - -<p>“Six weeks, dear—and then it had to be -a profile.”</p> - -<p>“Elizabeth had rather a hard time of it, -too,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin; “she would learn in her lovely new -suit, and by the time she could ride, she -hadn’t enough of it left to make a bathing -costume.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Tom tells a rather good bicycle story,” -observed the president. “He met a member -of his club, who is a noted scorcher, the -other day. He was wheeling along a very -disreputable specimen of a woman’s machine. -‘Hello,’ said Tom, ‘got yourself -into trouble?’ ‘Yes,’ was the reply, ‘I ran -into a woman up yonder, and I’m afraid -it will be cheaper to buy her a new wheel -than to have the old one repaired.’ -‘Humph,’ said Tom, who knows him pretty -well, ‘it’s a wonder you didn’t just ride -away and leave her, when you found what -you had done.’ ‘I did,’ said the scorcher, -‘but it didn’t do me any good.’ ‘Policeman -saw you, eh?’ ‘No. The woman -turned out to be my wife!’”</p> - -<p>“Good!” said the blue-eyed girl. “I -came very near not getting my bicycle last -year. Papa said I should have one if I -learned to make a good pie. I agreed to -do it, but I had reckoned without the cook. -She said flatly that she wouldn’t have me -messing up her kitchen. Finally, I compromised -by agreeing to trim her a hat, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> -she would make the pie. It was really -quite the same you know.”</p> - -<p>“Quite,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin.</p> - -<p>“And did it turn out all right?” asked -the president.</p> - -<p>“The hat did; but the pie—well, the -cook had lived with us for three years, and -that was the first time she had turned out -an uneatable pie!”</p> - -<p>“But, why didn’t you ask your father -to let you try again?” asked the girl with -the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“I did, dear; but I took no chances that -time; I bought the pie from the Woman’s -Exchange. And I must say that I think I -quite deserved the bicycle after all I had -been through to earn it.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed you did,” said the girl with the -classic profile. “By the way, Emily, I hear -that you and Dick had an almost fatal quarrel -while you were both learning.”</p> - -<p>“We did,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin. “It happened this way: I was -able to ride at least two blocks without assistance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> -so I got up very early, and went -to the park alone to practice. I was getting -along very well until I heard somebody -coming up behind me at a terrible pace. -That made me so nervous that I fell right -off. The cyclist who had frightened me -was Dick, and he actually kept right on -without offering to help me!”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he didn’t know it was you,” -suggested the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“Yes, he did; but he kept right on, and -a perfect stranger had to take me and my -bicycle home. Two hours later he appeared -with his arm in a sling, and explained. -He said it was first time he had -ridden outside of the riding school, and he -had gotten a terrific pace which he couldn’t -have stopped if a rich uncle had been in his -way. He said that if something in his machine -hadn’t broken, he verily believed -he’d have circled the globe without stopping!”</p> - -<p>“So you forgave him, didn’t you? You -always were amiable,” said the girl with -the eyeglasses.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Ye—es. Especially as he offered to -have my bicycle repaired; papa having -declared the last time that he wouldn’t pay -another cent for repairs, if it stood in the -attic all summer!”</p> - -<p>“That was good of you. Some girls -would not have been so just,” said the -president.</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t praise me too much,” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin, modestly. -“Nobody who knew me happened -to be in sight when it occurred—else I -might not have let him off so easily.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me, how modest you are,” said -the blue-eyed girl. “I never knew a human -being with so little vanity in my life.”</p> - -<p>“Nor I,” said the girl with the classic -profile. “Did I tell you about Florence’s -latest trouble? No? Well, you know that -horrid Mr. Brownsmith, who rides beautifully, -begged to be allowed to teach her. -She accepted, and as soon as she had -learned to ride well, she wondered how to -get rid of him.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t she ask her father to—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Forbid him to the house? That’s just -what she did. I believe you have heard -this story before.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. And her father?” queried the -girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“Absolutely refused to do it. Said he -was the finest young man he knew, and only -wondered that he cared for her society.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I declare! And Florence?”</p> - -<p>“Would have had to treat him just like -anybody else, if he hadn’t heard all about -it, and stopped calling of his own accord. -Now, every time her father sees him, he -asks why he hasn’t been to the house for -so long!”</p> - -<p>“How unreasonable men are to be sure—Florence’s -father, in particular. Why, -he actually refuses to speak to Dickey Doolittle, -whose third cousin married a British -baronet, and who has all his garments made -in London!” said the president.</p> - -<p>“I know—he says it makes no difference -to him <i>where</i> Dickey gets his clothes; so -long as he pays for them promptly,” said -the blue-eyed girl.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Which is the last thing Dickey would -even think of doing,” said the girl with the -Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, he may <i>think</i> of it,” said the -girl with the classic profile. “I suppose -that even Dickey thinks sometimes.”</p> - -<p>“You have been reading the comic papers -again,” said the president, severely. “Whenever -I hear old jokes I—”</p> - -<p>“No, dear,” said the girl with the classic -profile, sweetly, “but I had a long talk with -your husband only yesterday.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin, rousing herself from a -reverie, “I’m afraid I’ve not been paying -attention to the discussion. I can’t even -remember whether we decided that women -should be legislators or not.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry to hear that,” said the president. -“I fear it is too late to go over the -discussion again for your benefit. I thought -you were taking notes of it as we went -along—I saw you jotting something down -in your note-book.”</p> - -<p>“That was only my calculations for a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> -bicycle suit. There must be something -wrong about them, too, for I make it -twenty-seven dollars, and I only have -twenty-one dollars and thirty-eight cents to -my name, even if somebody pays my car-fare -home.”</p> - -<p>“I only make it twenty-six dollars and -two cents,” said the blue-eyed girl, “and I -have allowed for everything just the same -as you have.”</p> - -<p>“But then you are so economical that -your sums in addition always come out less -than mine, dear. I think you had better -go over it again; or let Evelyn do it for -you.”</p> - -<p>“I make it twenty-eight dollars and sixty -cents,” said the president. “Try it Frances, -and see if I am right.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t,” said the blue-eyed girl, -“if anybody else adds it up, it may come -out thirty dollars, and then I can’t afford -it at all. Well, I do hope one thing,—that -when women are legislators they will arrange -that we all have more money to spend.”</p> - -<p>“Of course they will,” said the president,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> -“else why should they bother to be legislators -at all?”</p> - -<p>“Hear! hear!” said the girl with the -Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“What a comfort you are with your -knowledge of parliamentary usage,” said -the president.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I have gained that by joining this -club, if I have gained nothing else,” replied -the girl with the Roman nose. “I -observe, too, that papa and the boys are -less inclined to engage in argument with -me than they were before they knew the -kind of topics we discuss here. Not that -I give myself any airs over it, of course,” -she added.</p> - -<p>“Oh, none of us do that,” said the -brown-eyed blonde. “But there is another -benefit which I derive from the club. -Mamma allows me to spend a good deal -more money on my wardrobe, now that -she is afraid that I may begin to look intellectual -if I’m not well dressed.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, speaking of bicycle suits; did you -ever hear what happened to Molly’s old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> -one?” asked the blue-eyed girl. “No? -Well, she was determined to have a new -one this year, so she put the old one away -without any moth-balls, and—”</p> - -<p>“It was completely ruined by the moths, -so that she had to get a new one?” asked -the president.</p> - -<p>“No, it was comparatively uninjured; -but the moths from it had got into all her -brother’s spring garments, which were -hanging up near it. Molly is thinking of -going away on a nice long visit about the -time that he discovers it.”</p> - -<p>“H’m; if I know anything about men, -she had better,” said the president. “Poor -Molly, I suppose she had meant to coax -him for another suit. How unlucky that -girl is, and she doesn’t in the least deserve -her ill-luck, either.”</p> - -<p>“No. She often says it would be easier -to bear if she did. Now, last year that -very same brother was always coaxing her -to ask Ida to pay her a visit. Finally, he -said he’d give her fifty dollars if she would -do it, and she thought she might as well be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> -good-natured and oblige him. However, -she was busy, and put it off a week or two, -and when Ida’s letter of acceptance actually -came he had fallen in love with another -girl, and let Molly do all the entertaining!”</p> - -<p>“Just like a man. Did he give her the -money?” asked the president.</p> - -<p>“No. He compromised on half, because -Molly had put off asking her. And -Ida stayed two weeks longer than she had -been asked for, and made eyes all the time -at the man Molly really liked herself.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, poor Molly,” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin, “she says the next -time her brother offers to pay her for having -a girl to visit her, she will send the invitation -by telegraph!”</p> - -<p>“And demand payment in advance,” said -the brown-eyed blonde; “of course he would -be willing to pay for the telegram, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and take it to the office, too,” -said the president, with a sigh. “Tom used -to send off all my telegrams before we were -married—he always said it was too far to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> -the office for me to go myself. Now, he -says that the exercise will do me good.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose he doesn’t want to pay for -the message,” said the blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I never pay for my telegrams, I -always send them at receiver’s cost. People -are so curious to know what is in a telegram -that they pay without a murmur.”</p> - -<p>“H’m, I shall have to try that,” said -the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“But not on me,” cried the president. -“I’ll never forgive you if you do. Oh, -girls, did you hear the awful thing that -happened to Milly when she sold her bicycle? -No? Well, she only got ten dollars -for it, because the man said it was in -such an awful condition that he only took -it to oblige her, and it would be a dead loss -on his hands. He told her to come in in -about ten days, and he’d have some second -hand ones in such good condition that they -would be the best bargains in town.”</p> - -<p>“That was very nice of him, since he -made nothing on the transaction,” said the -brown-eyed blonde.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> - -<p>“So Milly thought. At the end of that -time she went back, and found one that -she liked very much, it being the same -make as her old one. He wanted sixty -dollars for it, but she beat him down to -fifty, and took it home with her at once for -fear he would change his mind. What do -you think she found when she got home? -That she had bought her own old machine -back again!”</p> - -<p>“But how did she know that?” asked -the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“By the number on the plate, goosie. -He had put on new pedals, raised the seat a -bit and given it a new coat of enamel—making -forty dollars on the transaction! -And when Milly wanted her husband to -punish him for his rascality, he only laughed -until she actually thought seriously of applying -for a divorce!”</p> - -<p>“And no wonder,” said the blue-eyed -girl. “One man will do a mean thing and -another will uphold him. You don’t find -women doing such things for each other!”</p> - -<p>“No, indeed,” said the girl with the dimple<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> -in her chin; “our own standard of -feminine behavior is so high, that we hardly -even give each other credit for the good -things we do!”</p> - -<p>“I’ve often noticed that,” said the girl -with the eyeglasses, “and I regret to see -that men are unable to appreciate our lofty -motives, and often set it down to envy.”</p> - -<p>“My goodness,” cried the president, -with a guilty start, “it must be long past -time to adjourn, and I don’t want the -janitor to look at me as he did last time we -were late. Why, he couldn’t have been -more unpleasant if I had been his own wife! -And the look which always reduces Tom to -instant submission hadn’t the least effect -upon him!”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been dying for an opportunity to -speak to you all afternoon,” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin, to the blue-eyed -girl, as they turned the corner, “I met -Effie Bittersweet to-day, and she spoke so -nicely of you that I am sure she thinks you -and her brother are about to become reconciled.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It isn’t Jack this time, dear,” was the -calm reply. “The fact is, that Clarence -Lighthed has been paying me a good deal -of attention lately, and she was afraid you -would think her jealous.”</p> - -<p>“Clarence! Well, I never—how on earth -did you manage it, Dorothy?”</p> - -<p>“Strange as it may appear, I didn’t -manage it at all; he did it entirely of his -own accord. But though that is the honest -truth, there isn’t another girl of my acquaintance -who would even <i>pretend</i> to believe -it if I told her.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose not, dear; and yet men must -sometimes admire girls of their own free -will. Well, Effie must be feeling very -badly, then, for she said that of course she -knew I would laugh at her for saying it, -but for her part, she considered Dorothy -Darling the prettiest girl in our set.”</p> - -<p>“Humph, I’ll remember that when -Clarence calls to-morrow afternoon. You -couldn’t persuade Effie to drop in with -you for a cup of tea, could you?”</p> - -<p>“Ye—es, I suppose I could, if you will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> -promise to put enough rum in my cup to -fortify me for the walk home. And I have -always wanted to own a hand mirror like -that silver one of yours. Do you suppose -anybody will ever give me one?”</p> - -<p>“You may have mine, if you will promise -to bring Effie in at precisely half-past -four; Clarence will be reading poetry aloud -by that time.”</p> - -<p>“I promise; and I might just as well -stop in and get the hand mirror now. You -won’t want me to leave you a moment to-morrow.</p> - -<p>“Indeed, I shall not. By the way, of -course I told you that I cracked the mirror -breaking taffy the other afternoon! No? -Why, I wonder how I could have overlooked -the fact.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, dear, Ned Crœsus will -have it mended for me—and thank me for -letting him do it, instead of Dick. By the -way, how can you endure so much of Clarence’s -society? You always said he was so -stupid.”</p> - -<p>“That was when he used to talk of nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> -but Effie. Any man would be stupid, -if his only theme was another girl. You—you -couldn’t let Jack know about Clarence, -could you? If it was any one else -Effie would tell him the first time she was -provoked with him. Frances will be careful -not to let him know, and men have such -silly ideas about interfering with other peoples’ -affairs, that I doubt if any of them -say a word to him about the matter.”</p> - -<p>“I might. Yes, I know I could, if only -I was sure that you would not blame me -if it turned out badly.”</p> - -<p>“Well, Emily Marshmallow, to think of -refusing to do a little thing like that for me—when -I’ve just given you that lovely -hand mirror, which I like better than -anything I own. I just believe you -want Jack Bittersweet yourself, and I’m -sure you are welcome to him, for aught I -care!”</p> - -<p>“Look here, Dorothy, I think you forget -that Jack is two whole inches shorter than -I; and if you think I am capable of caring -enough for <i>any</i> man to make myself look<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> -like a—a bean pole for the rest of my natural -life, you are very much mistaken!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, if you are sorry to have hurt -my feelings, of course I shall overlook it. -I only hope, however, that you will not -rely too much on my natural amiability and -push me too far. If you should see Jack -in the near future you might, as you suggested,—”</p> - -<p>“But, I didn’t suggest at all. You must -just tell me what you want me to say to -Jack and, if I get a chance, I—”</p> - -<p>“You are entirely mistaken. I don’t -want you to say anything to Jack; after the -way he has treated me, I have too much -pride to raise a finger to bring him back. -I only thought that, as you are a friend of -his, you might like to warn him that there -are others who appreciate me, if he does -not.”</p> - -<p>“B—but I rather fancy that he will expect—er -some kind of an explanation of -the—the occurrence at your house last -week. Suppose I just say—”</p> - -<p>“Well, then, all I’ve got to say is, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> -if Jack Bittersweet is too stupid to understand -a simple accident, I don’t care if he -never speaks to me again. Clarence Lighthed -is one of the very nicest fellows I ever -knew, and I am one of the hap—happiest -girls in the world. Don’t look at me as if -you thought I was crying! I am not—and -if I was, it would be out of p—pure joy!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter VIII<br /> - -<small>An Executive Meeting</small></h2> - - -<p>“Why, Frances, is that you? And on -your way to the Club, too,” cried the blue-eyed -girl, as she caught up with the brown-eyed -blonde, “how lucky I am; I shall -have a nice long talk with you as we go -along! How well you are looking to-day, -quite fresh, I declare! Dear me, I should -have put on my gloves before I left home, -but I was in such haste that—”</p> - -<p>“By the way, Dorothy, it seems to me -that you are not wearing as many rings as -usual this winter. Surely, I miss the diamond -you used to wear!”</p> - -<p>“Why, no I’m not; so much jewelry is -always vulgar, and rings are <i>so</i> hard on one’s -gloves. Mercy, we have walked a whole -block, and you haven’t told me a bit of -news!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Haven’t I? By the way, I heard Ja—a -man I know, say something about you -yesterday which was quite a surprise. I -don’t really know whether I ought to repeat -it, or not.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he wouldn’t have said it before -you unless he expected you to repeat it, -dear. You must tell me what it is, or I -shall fancy it was not really unpleasant, -and, really I’ve had so many compliments -of late that it will be quite a change. I am -actually afraid that Cla—a friend who thinks -too well of me—will make me vain, and -that—”</p> - -<p>“Impossible, dear. By the way, I hear -that Clarence Lighthed comes to see you -occasionally now, and—”</p> - -<p>“Not oftener than once in twenty-four -hours, dear.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. And really he has been so devoted -to so many girls that—”</p> - -<p>“It is a wonder that he has never thought -of <i>you!</i> Why so it is, now that I think of -it. But never mind, there may be a chance -for you yet. Pardon me, you were about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> -to repeat something you had heard about -me, and I’m afraid I interrupted you.”</p> - -<p>“Was I? Dear me, I have quite forgotten -what it was; nothing very important, -I’m sure.”</p> - -<p>“Very true. By the way, I heard something -about <i>you</i> the other day, too. It was -extremely complimentary—so much so indeed, -that you will think I am trying to -flatter you, if I repeat it.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed? Oh, I remember now what I -was about to tell you. It was—so you -really heard something nice about poor little -me?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I really did. I’ll tell you after -you have finished your story. I really -must not interrupt you again.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Ja—I mean the man I know—said -the other day that he thought you—now -you mustn’t mind this, at all, Dorothy; I -told him at once that nobody else had ever -said such a thing of you.”</p> - -<p>“How kind of you to champion me, dear; -I really did not expect it.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes; I often do it. He said—I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> -wouldn’t repeat it to you, but the absurdity -of the charge takes all the sting out of -it. He said, ‘I consider Dorothy Darling -the most heartless flirt I ever knew!’ Isn’t -it too funny!” and she burst into a peal of -laughter.</p> - -<p>The blue-eyed girl paused to pat a little -dog before she replied: “How well you do -tell a story, Frances, dear. Look at that -poor, old blind man over yonder; let us -cross over and give him some pennies,” -and she was almost dancing as she crossed -the street.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he is an impostor, after all,” -said the brown-eyed blonde. “By the way, -you said somebody paid me a nice compliment -the other day. Do tell me what it -was, and if I ever get the chance—be it -twenty years from now—I’ll do the same -for you.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, indeed. Old Miss Lucy -Brownsmith said to me, only the other day, -‘Really, Frances is quite a nice-looking -girl now that she has given up lacing so -tightly.’ I knew you would be so pleased.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> -Well, here we are at the Club; I am afraid -that I must have walked too fast for you, -dear; you look quite flushed.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Emily, dear,” she whispered, as -she embraced her friend in the cloak room, -“Jack is wild with jealousy! He told -Frances the other day that I was the most -heartless flirt he ever knew!”</p> - -<p>“Then, he is ready to go half-way toward -making up! Oh, I am so glad that -I—”</p> - -<p>“Half-way? Do you suppose, Emily -Marshmallow, that after allowing Clarence -Lighthed to bore me almost to death for -two weeks, I shall be willing to go half-way -to make up with Jack?”</p> - -<p>“But you said the other day that unless -you <i>did</i> make up with him, you would -learn to be a trained nurse and devote -your life to others, and I thought—”</p> - -<p>“Never mind what I said the other day—that -was before I knew how jealous Jack -was. And all I’ve got to say, is this: if -you expect me to make a fright of myself -in a gray cloak and bonnet and cotton<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> -gown just to please <i>you</i>, you are very -much mistaken!”</p> - -<p>The girl with the eyeglasses put her head -in at the door, “Come into the club-room -right away, girls,” she said. “Evelyn is -here, and she has something of the greatest -importance to tell us.”</p> - -<p>The president was evidently excited as -she called the meeting to order. “I am -just as angry as I can be,” she said. -“What do you think I found in my mail -to-day? A letter from a man who is old -enough to know better, suggesting a topic -for discussion by this club. That topic -was, ‘The Best Method of Keeping the Hat -on Straight.’”</p> - -<p>“You don’t say so!” said the girl with -the Roman nose. “Well, it only shows -that our mental advancement has made him -uneasy.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” said the president. “Then, -as if that was not enough, he suggests a -small mirror fastened to the inside of an -umbrella or parasol as—”</p> - -<p>“Pshaw!” said the brown-eyed blonde,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> -“a highly polished silver handle answers the -same purpose and attracts less attention.”</p> - -<p>“Talk about hats,” said the girl with the -classic profile, “men are just as fussy about -their own. Did you ever see anybody put -on a man’s hat to suit him?”</p> - -<p>“Never,” said the president. “I had an -awful time when Tom’s arm was broken. -I would put on his hat as carefully as I -could—he always would tip it too far back -himself—and yet, each time he would remove -it, look suspiciously into the crown, -and put it on again himself.”</p> - -<p>“As if it makes any difference how a -man looks, anyhow,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. “So long as they are nice and -generous, no girl cares—”</p> - -<p>“Very true,” broke in the girl with the -dimple in her chin, “and it is frequently -the pocket of a last year’s overcoat which -harbors the largest box of candy.”</p> - -<p>“I should like to know how a man manages -to keep his hat on without veil or -pins,” said the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“He doesn’t always do it in a high<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> -wind,” said the girl with the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“And yet he always wonders why a -woman holds her hat on when she is driving,” -remarked the girl with the dimple in -her chin.</p> - -<p>“You know what a fuss men always make -about big theater hats,” said the president. -“Well, thinking to please Tom, I got a tiny -bonnet, which was so becoming that it attracted -as much attention as a regular -mountain of feathers and velvet.”</p> - -<p>“And wasn’t he pleased?” asked the -girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“Not when the bill came in, and he -found that it cost rather more than a large -hat. I said that he ought to be content to -pay for the principle of a thing. He replied -that it looked as if the interest was all about -all he could afford. I suppose he thought -that was sarcastic.”</p> - -<p>“Men have such queer ideas of humor, -anyhow,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin; “why, I know a man who once -laughed heartily at a joke on himself.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Perhaps he owed money to the man -who made it, or wanted his vote for something,” -said the girl with the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’d like to know who first invented -hat-pins,” said the brown-eyed -blonde. “I am sure it was not a woman, -because—”</p> - -<p>“It was a man, and he was either an old -bachelor or a bigamist,” said the girl with -the Roman nose. “I had two pins running -straight into my scalp all during service on -Sunday. Dick was with me, too, and it -was so hard to look saintly when—”</p> - -<p>“Men always ask why we don’t tie our -hats on, when we complain of pins,” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin. -“Wouldn’t we look nice with our jaws tied -up like those of a small boy with the toothache?”</p> - -<p>“To say nothing of having our hearing so -impaired that we couldn’t be sure whether -compliments whispered into our ears were -intended for us or were merely remarks -made about other girls,” said the brown-eyed -blonde.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Well, girls,” said the president, “I see -you all resent it, as I do; and I’m just going -to write that horrid man a letter telling -him that the Teacup Club has too many -serious topics to discuss to waste time upon -anything relating to millinery.”</p> - -<p>“Speaking of millinery,” said the blue-eyed -girl, “did you ever see anything as -sweet as the new hats! I went with Elizabeth -to select the ones for her trousseau the -other day, and it did seem hard to me that -a girl only has a chance <i>once</i> in her life -to buy as many hats as she really wants, -and—”</p> - -<p>“Not to mention the fact that it is just -at the time when she is so much interested -in her future husband that she can’t give -her whole mind to the subject,” broke in -the girl with the eyeglasses. “Now, if she -could only choose her trousseau a year after -her marriage, instead of before.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; or even six months,” said the -president. “Well, my new hat must cost -five dollars less than I had hoped. I borrowed -that amount from Tom last month;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> -and—will you believe it?—he took it out of -my allowance for this month, in spite of -the fact that I told him I had spent it for -his birthday present.”</p> - -<p>“But why didn’t you take it out of your -housekeeping allowance? You usually do,” -said the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“Because I had already taken enough for -a half-dozen pairs of gloves out of that. It -happened that he had not given a single -stag dinner during the month, so I could -not filch too much without discovery. -When he gives a dinner, I can always pay -myself well for the trouble of it. If he -complains of the bills, I just say, ‘Yes, -dear, I see that we cannot afford any more -stag dinners,’ and that settles it at once,” -she added.</p> - -<p>“I should think it would,” said the blue-eyed -girl, thoughtfully. “Did you tell Tom -how mean you thought it of him to expect -you to pay back money that you had borrowed?”</p> - -<p>“I did. I said, ‘I wouldn’t be as selfish -as you are for anything!’”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p> - -<p>“And did that make him feel badly? I -should think so.”</p> - -<p>“Not a bit. You don’t know Tom; he -just laughed as if it was funny. Luckily, -I had given him a silk umbrella for his -birthday, and as he has two already, and -this one is—er rather small, I shall get a -good deal of use out of it myself.”</p> - -<p>“And you hadn’t one at all, had you?” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin. “I -remember the day you lost yours.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Wasn’t it nice of me to buy one -for him when I really needed it for myself? -But one can’t expect a man to appreciate -generosity.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin, “what do you think I heard -to-day?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know what <i>you</i> heard,” said -the girl with the Roman nose, “but I heard -that Clarence Lighthed has just inherited a -fortune from an uncle whom he had never -seen! You know he is my cousin, and—”</p> - -<p>“Have you just heard that,” said the -blue-eyed girl, “He told <i>me</i> about it a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> -week ago—the day you said he was -stupid, Emily. I knew at the time that -you would feel badly when you discovered -that it was only—er—grief for the death of -his uncle, which made him so quiet and -thoughtful. Poor fellow, it must have been -<i>such</i> a shock to him!”</p> - -<p>“How kind of you to comfort him in his -sorrow,” said the brown-eyed blonde, in -sarcastic tones.</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear—especially as he could have -his choice of comforters. I think you said -that you, too, have a piece of news, -Emily.”</p> - -<p>“Why—er—yes, I heard that Effie Bittersweet -is on the verge of nervous prostration.”</p> - -<p>The blue-eyed girl said never a word; -she looked out of the window opposite her, -and there was a soft, sweet smile on her -face. Perhaps she failed to see the glances -that were exchanged by the others.</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls, have you heard the awful -thing that happened to me yesterday?” -asked the girl with the eyeglasses. “No?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> -Then, I had better tell you all about it myself. -I had an engagement with Harry; -we were to call on his aunt who lives in -Rogers Park—nothing very exciting, you -know. Well, Mr. Doolittle came in early -to ask me if I wouldn’t go to the matinée -with him. Now, I knew Harry would take -me to see his aunt any day, and Mr. Doolittle -might never ask me to go to the -matinée again, so I accepted his invitation -at once.”</p> - -<p>“You would have been very stupid if -you hadn’t,” said the president.</p> - -<p>“So I thought. Then, I told him that -I must stop in at the drug store and send -off a telephone message. You see, I -didn’t want to give Harry all the trouble -of coming up in vain.”</p> - -<p>“You are always so thoughtful,” said the -blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“I try to be. I called Harry up, but he -was not in, and I told the office-boy to tell -him that I was ill, and could not go with -him to Rogers Park, but hoped to be out -in a day or two. The boy was as stupid as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> -he could be; I had to repeat the message -twice, and even spell my name. Oh, it was -awful!”</p> - -<p>“What? his stupidity?” asked the girl -with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“No; my own. As I was going out, the -clerk stopped me, and said, ‘You needn’t -have taken all that trouble, Miss Marion; -you were telephoning to Mr. Vansmith, -weren’t you? Well, that was he that just -went out; he was standing about three feet -away from you all the time you were trying -to make the person at the other end of the -line understand!’”</p> - -<p>“Well, I hope your father is satisfied -<i>now</i>,” said the president. “You have been -trying to get him to put in a telephone all -winter.”</p> - -<p>“Humph; you don’t know my father -very well, dear. When I told him about -it, he only said that he was more fully satisfied -than ever that women were not to be -trusted with telephones!”</p> - -<p>“Then there was that horrid drug clerk,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> -“why didn’t he stop you when Harry came -in, instead of letting you—”</p> - -<p>“The fact is, that I knew he was trying -to attract my attention all the time, but I -thought that it was only somebody else who -wanted to use the telephone in a hurry, and -I took my own good time.”</p> - -<p>“He might have known you would have -done that,” said the girl with the classic -profile. “Girls, I often wonder why drug -clerks are such gloomy, misanthropic creatures?”</p> - -<p>“Dear knows,” said the president; “I’ve -often noticed it, though. And how cross a -clerk in a shoe store always is! Strange, -too, when they have such light, easy work. -I tried on seventeen pairs of boots only -yesterday, and I never was so tired in all -my life; yet I was as amiable as possible, -and the clerk, who had nothing to do but -wait on me, was so rude that I thought seriously -of having the proprietor in to hear -of it. However, I compromised by going -out without buying anything.”</p> - -<p>“It was very good of you, I’m sure,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> -said the blue-eyed girl. “You know Marie -sends to Paris for all her shoes. I never -saw such beauties in all my life as she -wears.”</p> - -<p>“H’m. I know she <i>says</i> so,” returned -the girl with the Roman nose, “but—look -here, if I tell you something, will you promise -never to tell it as long as you live? -Well, then, I spent the day with Marie last -week. She had a lovely new pair of shoes, -and I tried my best, without asking -directly, you know, to find the name of -the Parisian boot-maker, and how much -she paid for them.”</p> - -<p>“Of course you didn’t find out,” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin. “Marie -can be as impervious to a hint as a man.”</p> - -<p>“M’hm. Well, she got ready to go out -with me, and just as we were ready to start -she was called out of the room. Her boots -were all in the closet, and I—well, somehow -I just happened to be near the door, it -was ajar, and I stooped down to look at the -maker’s name on them, when—oh, girls, -the door behind me suddenly flew open!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness, it was Marie herself! -What did—”</p> - -<p>“No, it was the maid. She said: ‘Will -you please tell Miss Marie, when she comes -in, that Cashly has sent up for the pair of -boots she didn’t take. The boy is waiting -in the hall.’”</p> - -<p>“Well, I never,” said the blue-eyed girl. -“But I’ve always said that if I sent to Paris -for my boots I’d have better looking ones -than <i>she</i> gets!”</p> - -<p>“But then Marie gets a great deal for her -money, dear, even if the boots themselves -are not of a superior quality,” said the -girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“Very true. By the way, who went to -Marie’s tea yesterday?” said the girl with -the dimple in her chin; “I did not. Since -the founding of this club I have cared less -and less for gossip and society, and—”</p> - -<p>“Then you didn’t mind not receiving an -invitation to Marie’s after all!” said the -brown-eyed blonde. “I must tell her that. -She said yesterday that she didn’t expect -you to speak to her for a month.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p> - -<p>“By the way,” said the girl with the -Roman nose, hastily, “Dick made rather a -good suggestion yesterday. He said why not -have a phonograph, or even a stenographer, -in the room while we are discussing a topic; -then we could have copies made, and—”</p> - -<p>“That reminds me,” said the president, -and she rapped loudly for order. “Girls, -do be quiet. We have a very important -question to decide to-day. A number of -men have expressed a desire to become -members of this club, and—”</p> - -<p>“I vote against it,” said the girl with the -Roman nose. “We can all express our -real opinions now, knowing they will go no -further, whereas—”</p> - -<p>“No club man can ever keep a secret,” -broke in the girl with the dimple in her -chin. “As for us, we would die rather than -divulge—”</p> - -<p>“They are so curious, too,” broke in the -girl with the classic profile. “We have all -talked so much about our meetings that -they want to know how they are conducted, -that is all.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, that is just it,” said the brown-eyed -blonde, “and once in they would spoil -all the originality of it by having rules and -all that. Then they’d go away and say -that we couldn’t get along without them.”</p> - -<p>“The idea!” said the president, “when -that’s the very reason I set our time of -meeting in the afternoon!”</p> - -<p>“Look here,” said the girl with the eyeglasses, -“of course we don’t want to offend -them. Why not have a ‘man’s day’ once -in a while?”</p> - -<p>“So we might,” said the president; “but -we had better wait until we get all our new -things. Well, I suppose, since we are all -agreed, that we had better not waste time -in voting on it. I’m awfully glad to see -you here, Elise; I was afraid you would -not be able to come.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I was determined not to miss it,” -said the girl with the Roman nose. “I left -word for them to tell the doctor I was -asleep if he called in my absence. I have -been troubled with insomnia, you know, -and he would tell them not to disturb me.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> -Of course, he gave me strict orders not to -go out, but he—”</p> - -<p>“Will never know that,” said the brown-eyed -blonde. “Oh, such a time as I had -last fall when I was ill! You see, papa -was going to make me go to Philadelphia -to stay with old Aunt Borely. I—I was -not very well, anyhow, so I took to my -bed.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and you had that nice young doctor, -too,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“Oh, why am I so brutally healthy!”</p> - -<p>“I did, and he cured me of my particular -ailment,” went on the brown-eyed blonde. -“I had a most becoming light in the room -the first time he called, and what do you -think he did? Pulled every window-shade -up to the top, until I looked a perfect fright—and -he young enough to know better!”</p> - -<p>“Pshaw!” said the girl with the classic -profile. “All doctors are horrid. Why, I -once had such a handsome one that he sent -my pulse away up every time he felt it. I -did look so horrid that one day I—I put on -a little rouge just before he came. In consequence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> -he said I had a high fever, and -put me on a milk-and-water diet for three -days, besides giving me—”</p> - -<p>“Like the mean thing I had last year,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin. -“I had a cough, and wanted a trip to -Florida; instead, I got a pair of overshoes, -a lot of flannels, and a mackintosh.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” said the girl with the -Roman nose. “Well, I don’t believe my -doctor is a good one; he—”</p> - -<p>“Is too ugly to be a really good one, -anyhow,” broke in the blue-eyed girl. -“Fancy being delirious, and seeing that -creature enter the room!”</p> - -<p>“By the way,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin, “I wonder why ugly -men are always having their photographs -taken and expecting one to keep them -hanging up where one can see them constantly!”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” said the brown-eyed blonde, -“they hope it may be a case of</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">“But seen too oft, familiar with its face,</div> -<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">We first endure, then pity, then”——</span><br /></div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="unindent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>No, I don’t mean that,” she broke off, -blushing.</p> - -<p>“I should hope not,” said the blue-eyed -girl, in shocked tones. “I should be sorry -to think that any member of this club—”</p> - -<p>“The very queen of clubs,” broke in the -president; “that is what Tom calls it—when -he is in a particularly good humor, I -mean. I think we had better adjourn -now,” she added; “Elise really ought not -to be out late, and I am wild to tell Tom -that men will not be admitted to membership. -Doesn’t the doctor do that pain in -your chest any good, Elise?”</p> - -<p>“You don’t suppose that I told him anything -about that, do you?” cried the girl -with the Roman nose. “I hope I am not -so silly as that—with Elizabeth’s wedding -coming off in a week, and my lovely low-cut -gown all ready to wear to it!”</p> - -<p>“Just wait one moment,” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin. “I haven’t -got to-day’s topic down in my note-book. -What did you say it was, Evelyn?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness!” cried the president,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> -turning pale, “here we have had a -meeting, and I have forgotten to suggest -any topic—and not one of you thought to -remind me of it! Oh, I am afraid that all -my efforts to advance you intellectually are -wasted, after all!”</p> - -<p>“Never mind,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses, “this has been an executive -meeting, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>“Why, so it has,” said the president, -kissing her; “what a comfort you are, -Marion dear. Tom’s handsome cousin is -coming home from Montana next week -with a lot of money, and you shall be the -very first girl to have an introduction to him!”</p> - -<p>“Have you seen Jack Bittersweet lately?” -asked the girl with the eyeglasses, as she -linked her arm in that of the girl with the -dimple in her chin, after the meeting had -dissolved.</p> - -<p>“Yes, he came to see me yesterday. I -was in agony all the time he was there, lest -Dorothy come in. I knew she would never -believe that it was the first time he had -done it since they quarreled!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Of course she wouldn’t. Did he ask -your advice?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. So does she—but neither of them -take it.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t expect that, I hope. Well, -did you find out if he still cares for her?”</p> - -<p>“He does. I sat on the sofa, in my -prettiest house-gown, and he took a chair -six feet away. He didn’t even tell me -that fewer men would go to the dogs if -there were more women like me in the -world!”</p> - -<p>“Well, I only hope that they will soon -come to their senses, that’s all. Dorothy -looks like a ghost, and as for Jack—”</p> - -<p>“If they don’t,” cried the girl with the -dimple in her chin, savagely, “I shall just -have to spend a month or two in a sanatarium. -And I’m not sure that that will -save my life,” she added.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter IX<br /> - -<small>On the Use and Abuse of Political -Power</small></h2> - - -<p>“The absurdity of some people!” said -the president, pausing as she was about to -call the meeting to order. “What excuse -do you suppose Elizabeth gave for not asking -me to look at her pretty things? She -said she fancied I had grown too intellectual -to care for gowns and hats!”</p> - -<p>“How ridiculous! She had probably -heard that you do not intend to send her a -wedding present,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“I haven’t told a soul but the members -of this club that I shouldn’t give her -one,” said the president.</p> - -<p>“Then she couldn’t possibly know it,” -said the blue-eyed girl, hastily.</p> - -<p>“What enrages <i>me</i>, is the insinuation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> -that I have ceased to care for pretty things, -just because I study politics, and—er—other -things. I don’t see why intellectuality -has anything to do with doing up -one’s hair with three hairpins, or—”</p> - -<p>“Wearing gowns which are frayed around -the bottom,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin; “neither do I. And, yet they -seem to be somehow connected in people’s -minds.”</p> - -<p>“Very true,” said the president. “Girls, -the editor of a literary journal has asked for -some of the papers which have been read -before this club. He says—”</p> - -<p>“Mercy, what answer shall you make?” -cried the girl with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“I told him that I could not think of such -a thing. I always disliked notoriety. It -was very kind of him, though, and he even -offered to let the authors of the papers have -copies of their effusions at reduced rates, -provided they took over a hundred.”</p> - -<p>“Which, of course, they would,” said -the blue-eyed girl. “Well, you were quite -right to refuse, Evelyn. I, for one, have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> -such a horror of publicity, and, besides, it -would be quite expensive sending copies to -all one’s acquaintances.”</p> - -<p>“True,” said the president; “we are all -in accord, as usual. Let us discuss, ‘The -Use and Abuse of Political Power,’ to-day. -It is a subject which is of the greatest importance -to all of us, and—”</p> - -<p>“How do you spell ‘political?’ With -one <i>t</i> or two?” asked the girl with the eyeglasses, -as she opened her note-book.</p> - -<p>“With one—no, two. Pshaw, I can’t -remember. Just write it indistinctly.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Dorothy,” whispered the girl with -the dimple in her chin, “I saw Dick this -morning, and he says Jack told him yesterday -that he didn’t really know what your -quarrel was about, but he meant to go and -see you to-day, and ask you to forgive -him!”</p> - -<p>“I shall,” said the blue-eyed girl; “and -I don’t mind confessing to you, Emily, -that I, too, may have been just the merest -possible bit in the wrong. I’ve felt it right -along, but I couldn’t admit it, until he— What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> -shall I wear when he comes to see -me?”</p> - -<p>“You might wear the blue gown he -always admires so much.”</p> - -<p>“So I might. You know I wore a blue -gown the day he asked me to marry him, -and he said I must keep it always. Of -course, this isn’t the same one, but I am -careful to have each succeeding one the -same color, and he doesn’t know the -difference. Perhaps I have told you this -before.”</p> - -<p>“I think you have, dear—once or twice,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin, -demurely.</p> - -<p>“Yes. I don’t mind letting you know, -Emily, that I have missed him a good deal. -Why, I had his photograph—the one I pretended -to have lost, so I needn’t send it -back—out when you knocked at my door -to-day. You couldn’t have helped seeing -me thrust it under Clover’s cushion, if you -hadn’t thought something was wrong with -your boot heel, and stooped down to -see.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You don’t say so. Well, all I’ve got -to say is, I wish I might see Frances’ face -at the wedding!”</p> - -<p>“You shall, dear. I’ll ask her to be -bridesmaid, and you, as maid of honor, can -have a good chance to watch her. You -have been such a faithful friend to both -Jack and myself that you deserve at least -that much satisfaction.”</p> - -<p>“Look here, Emily and Dorothy, I am -afraid you are not attending strictly to the -discussion,” said the president. “The -topic is— Frances, what on earth has made -you so late?”</p> - -<p>“It was all an accident,” said the brown-eyed -blonde; “I stopped for you, Dorothy, -on my way to the club. The maid said -you had gone already, and I was just coming -away when I noticed that your little -dog—what is his name? Rover? Ah, -Clover! I knew it was something like -that—was chewing something at the back -of the hall! I went to see what it was, -and—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness gracious! Not my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> -new sixteen-button gloves,” wailed the -blue-eyed girl. “I’ll give that dog away to-morrow!”</p> - -<p>“No, dear, not your gloves. It was a -photograph. Just as I was trying to get -the pieces away from him, Ja—I mean Mr. -Bittersweet—came up the steps with a huge -bunch of violets. He must have seen me -standing in the hall; you know the door -was open.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin, “that checked gown of -yours speaks for itself!”</p> - -<p>“I—ah, where was I? Oh—he succeeded -in getting the fragments away and—really, -it was too funny! It turned out to be a -photograph of himself! I told him that -I was almost sure that you didn’t give -it to the dog purposely, Dorothy; but I -am afraid I didn’t quite convince him.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed; and where are the violets?” -asked the girl with the dimple in her chin; -“you don’t seem to be wearing them!”</p> - -<p>“Why, er—no. Ja—I mean Mr. Bittersweet—threw -them at the dog. You will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> -find them right by the stairway, Dorothy, -dear; but I’m afraid they are not in very -good condition. What is to-day’s topic, -Evelyn?”</p> - -<p>“‘The Use and Abuse of Political -Power,’” said the president, in a faint -voice. “Will somebody open the window, -please; I need air!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Evelyn,” said the girl with the -Roman nose, after the president had announced -that she felt better, “I do hope -you are not sitting up at night studying, -and that sort of thing.”</p> - -<p>“Why, er—no, I believe not. The fact -is I’ve been going to a good many dances -of late on Tom’s account.”</p> - -<p>“But Tom doesn’t go, does he?”</p> - -<p>“No. B—but everybody knows how -fond of dancing I am; and if I didn’t go -they would say he kept me at home. I -don’t want Tom to pose as a tyrant, you -know!”</p> - -<p>“Of course not. You—”</p> - -<p>“Yes. The only thing which makes me -feel uncomfortable is the angelic way in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> -which he bears my absence. It isn’t like -Tom, and—”</p> - -<p>“Clarence—my cousin you know—was -saying only the other day, that he thought -you an angel to allow Tom and his friends -to smoke in the drawing-room, just because -you happened to be out,” said the girl with -the Roman nose. “I wonder if that—”</p> - -<p>“To smoke in the drawing-room!” -shrieked the president, turning pale. “I’ll -go home this minute, and tell him what I -think of such a proceeding. No, I won’t, -either; he is at the office, and it would not -do any good! I never suspected such a -thing and—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, then the smoke couldn’t -have done the rugs and curtains much harm, -after all, if you never noticed the odor.”</p> - -<p>“It’s the principle of the thing, my -dear. What hurts me, is the fact that my -husband respects my wishes so little, when -I only go to dances to keep people from -thinking ill of him, too! Well, one thing -sure, I’ll have all new curtains and carpets—since -mine are ruined with smoke—if he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> -keeps on talking about hard times until he -is black in the face!”</p> - -<p>“I wonder why men are always talking -about hard times,” said the girl with the -classic profile; “women never say anything -about them.”</p> - -<p>“Unless they are driven to it,” said the -girl with the dimple in her chin. “My sister’s -husband wanted to have his mother -come for a nice, long visit, but she told him -that she hardly thought they could afford it -in such hard times. You see he had just -made that excuse for not doing up the -house.”</p> - -<p>“With the result?” queried the girl with -the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“That he decided to have the house done -up at once! And, after all, the old lady -only stayed about a week. Helen says she -can’t imagine why she went, unless, she -was offended at her suggestion that she -might like to take a course at the cooking-school -while she was here.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t blame Helen, at all,” -said the blue-eyed girl. “No man has a right<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> -to be dyspeptic before he is married, and -her husband was. Everybody ought to -have a fair chance, and Helen’s cooking -might not have given it to him for years.”</p> - -<p>“At any rate, he can’t blame <i>her</i> for his -dyspepsia—and that is something,” said -the president. “Girls, does any one know -why Josephine has given up her lessons at -the cooking school?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose she has made one really good -loaf of bread, and doesn’t want to tempt -fate again,” said the blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“That is not the reason,” said the girl -with the eyeglasses, “she is engaged to a -man who knows how to cook, so there is -no use for her to waste any more time -over it. She is studying political economy -now.”</p> - -<p>“And a very good thing, too,” said the -girl with the dimple in her chin, “for the -way money is wasted on elections, is really -shocking!”</p> - -<p>“Hear! hear!” cried the girl with the -Roman nose. “Of course I don’t want to -have men as members of this club, but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> -can’t help wishing sometimes that a few of -them might hear Emily and Evelyn when -they are attacking political abuses and -monopolies.”</p> - -<p>“For my part, I don’t see why they -haven’t thrust the privilege of suffrage -upon us long ago,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses. “Then they would have somebody -to blame, when civic and national -affairs go wrong!”</p> - -<p>“Pshaw,” said the president, “that isn’t -necessary at all. They can come home and -scold because dinner is late, or the hall gas -is unlit, and so relieve their feelings just -the same.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure I don’t want to vote,” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin. “It -is ever so much nicer to do as the men do -with our housekeeping—just criticise that -which we can never display our ignorance -by attempting to do ourselves.”</p> - -<p>“That is only your sweet modesty, dear,” -said the girl with the classic profile. -“What do you think Mr. Bonds said the -other day! Ah, I was so indignant! He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> -said it was a mistake to say that women -could not throw stones.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see why you were indignant at -that,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “It -seems to me—”</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t that. It was what came -afterward. He said he knew it was a libel -for they could—at each other! And every -man in the room laughed as if he had said -something clever!”</p> - -<p>“I declare,” said the brown-eyed blonde, -“it is enough to make a man-hater of me. -If only people would not say that it was because -of some particular man who failed to -admire me—”</p> - -<p>“There is no danger of it being laid to -the door of any <i>one</i> man in your case, -dear,” said the blue-eyed girl. “Is that -your new gown that you are wearing to-day, -Frances, dear?”</p> - -<p>“Why, yes. Quite a novelty, isn’t it. -How do you like it?”</p> - -<p>“Very much indeed, dear. I stopped -and looked at it hanging in the cleaner’s -window the other day, and thought how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> -well it looked. You remember, don’t -you, Dorothy, my calling your attention to -it?” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin.</p> - -<p>“Quite well. I thought at the time that -it was well she had not attempted to clean -it herself. By the way, Helen’s little boy -said such a clever thing the other day. We -were speaking of favorite perfumes, and -how nice it was to always use the same one, -and he said: ‘I know what is Miss Frances’ -favorite perfume. Her gloves always smell -of it.’ ‘And what is it?’ Helen asked. -‘Gasoline,’ said the dear little fellow. Did -you ever hear anything so clever in your -life?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls,” said the president, hastily, -“speaking of gloves: I had a letter from -Pauline the other day, and such a heart-rending -thing had occurred to her. A nice -man was buttoning her gloves one day, and -he said she had the hand of a fairy—Pauline -seemed to think that an original remark.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it was the first time she had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> -ever had it said to her,” replied the blue-eyed -girl.</p> - -<p>“Um—perhaps it was. She said carelessly, -‘Do you think so? Why, I consider -it quite large. I wear a number six.’ She -was sorry for that afterward.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose he looked in the other glove, -and—saw that she had made a mistake,” -said the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“No, dear. But, shortly after that, they -made a bet of a dozen pairs of gloves, and -Pauline won. Oddly enough, she didn’t -know it until the gloves arrived. They -were number six, and—”</p> - -<p>“Pshaw, she could exchange them for a -larger size; he would never know the difference,” -said the girl with the eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“Not in this case, dear. He had had -her monogram embroidered on the top of -each pair. And now he is offended that -she does not wear them!”</p> - -<p>“How exactly like a man,” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin. “Now, I -have too high a regard for truth to—”</p> - -<p>“Waste it on such a little thing as that?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> -I know,” said the brown-eyed blonde. -“Well, I hope Pauline’s mishap will be a -warning to you.”</p> - -<p>“She might say that she could not accept -such a gift from a masculine friend,” -thoughtfully suggested the girl with the -classic profile.</p> - -<p>“But she had thanked him very prettily, -and said they were just her size, and how -did he know it? before she discovered that -she could not exchange them! Oh, I just -don’t see any way out of it. I told Tom -about it, and he said, ‘Pshaw, let her tell -him the truth, and be done with it.’ And -yet Tom is very clever—for a man.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed he is,” said the blue-eyed girl, -warmly, “he is one of the few people who -always understands a joke when I tell it. -Just because I leave out a little bit of it, -some people—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls,” cried the girl with the -classic profile, “I’ve been waiting for a -good chance to tell you that Eunice is -married!”</p> - -<p>“Is it possible?” said the girl with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> -eyeglasses. “I remember that she always -said people ought to know each other very -well before they <i>were</i> married. That was -why she went for a long visit to that Kansas -girl whose brother was so much in love -with her. She married <i>him</i>, I suppose.”</p> - -<p>“Why—er—no. You see, he asked her, -and she said she could not give him an answer -until she concluded her visit. They -would know each other much better then.”</p> - -<p>“And she refused him, after all?” said -the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“Well, no. For some reason he failed -to renew his offer, after her visit was over. -She had known the man she married exactly -three weeks when they became engaged.”</p> - -<p>“And the engagement lasted?”</p> - -<p>“Just a month, dear. And she was so -busy all the time with the trousseau that -she hardly had time for a word with him.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it was just as well,” said the -brown-eyed blonde. “Has the man she -married any money?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose so. He was thirty-four, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> -a bachelor. A very poor man would have -married long before he was as old as that. -By the way, speaking of the abuse of political -power, Mr. Dickenharry tells Nell that -if he is really elected to the office he hopes -for, she will have to ask all sorts of people -to her receptions, in order that—”</p> - -<p>“And what did Nell reply to that?” -asked the blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“Oh, she just smiled and let it go. It -will be much easier to manage all that after -they are married. She says he is so busy -now that she doesn’t like to thwart him -unnecessarily. Nell is always so thoughtful -of the feelings of others.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed she is,” said the president. -“Anyhow if she is obliged to ask all those -awful people to her receptions, she can snub -them thoroughly if they accept. Oh, she -is just the ideal wife for a politician; how -she will help him!”</p> - -<p>“That is just what she says herself,” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin, “and -she also says that she wants to join this -club as soon as her trousseau is off her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> -mind. She thinks our debates on political -subjects will be of great benefit to her. In -the meantime, she wants me to make -notes of the discussions, and let her have -them.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and let Mr. Dickenharry make use -of all our original ideas in his speeches!” -cried the president, hotly. “I am surprised -at you, Emily, for—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I didn’t say I meant to do it, dear; -I only said she wanted me to. It is so -much easier to promise a thing, and then -forget it, you know. Girls, I went to see -dear old Mrs. Pepperly yesterday, and—”</p> - -<p>“What, that cross, disagreeable woman!” -cried the brown-eyed blonde. “What on -earth made you do such a thing?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I always liked her, dear. When I -got there, I was <i>so</i> surprised. Her son is -home from Mexico on a visit, and—”</p> - -<p>“Why, don’t you remember, Emily, I -told you that on Sunday?” said the president. -“I mentioned that he had made a -lot of money there, and—”</p> - -<p>“How strange of me to forget it; I believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> -I do remember it now. We used to -be quite friends before he went away, too; -which makes it all the stranger. Do you -know, I’m afraid I shall have to accept one -of those lovely Mexican opals he brought -with him, or hurt his feelings! I’d hate -to do that, too, when I haven’t seen him -for so long.”</p> - -<p>“By the way, what is Mrs. Pepperly’s -number?” asked the brown-eyed blonde. -“I—I have been meaning to call on her for -ever so long. What a clever, original -woman she is!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, do go. She said she expected you -would come to see her now. I’m afraid -you will not have an opportunity to see the -opals though. Her son has given all the rest -of them to her, and they are at the jeweler’s -being set. And, by the way, he insisted -so that I had to let him have mine set -for me. I don’t know what Dick will say, -but really I could not hurt the feelings of -such an old friend by refusing—and of -course he knows nothing of Dick!”</p> - -<p>“For my part, I consider opals unlucky,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> -said the brown-eyed blonde. “I wouldn’t -wear one for anything!”</p> - -<p>“I’ve heard others say the same thing, -dear,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin; “but luckily they were people who -were not likely to have the chance! So -far as I am concerned, the good luck of -receiving such a handsome present will -quite overbalance anything unpleasant -which might follow!”</p> - -<p>“Nobody ever had such ill luck as I -have, and I never owned an opal in my -life,” wailed the girl with the classic profile. -“You know how unpleasant my Aunt -Clara is, don’t you? Well, the poor old -soul seemed so lonely in that great big -house that I asked her to make me a nice -long visit, knowing that she intended to go -abroad soon, and—”</p> - -<p>“She might take you along. Good!” -said the girl with the Roman nose. “Did -she accept?”</p> - -<p>“She did. Said she would stay three -whole months. At the end of that time, -she expects to marry a delicate clergyman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> -with three grown daughters, and take the -whole party to Europe.”</p> - -<p>“And that is all the compensation you -receive for thinking of others!” cried the -girl with the Roman nose. “Shall you let -her come?”</p> - -<p>“I shall not. I shall tell her that unless -she hears from me within two weeks, she -may know that I am down with a threatened -attack of scarlet fever. She has a horror -of illness, and wild horses couldn’t drag -her here after that. But I shall have an -exciting time with my sire, if he ever finds -it out!”</p> - -<p>“Humph, your father may never find it -out,” said the girl with the eyeglasses; -“and if he did, you could simply say that -you really thought you were getting scarlet -fever, and only concealed the fact from him -to save him anxiety.”</p> - -<p>“Pardon me, but you forget that I am a -younger daughter. Papa has already had -so much experience with my sisters that I -have to be very careful in my explanations. -This thing of being the third daughter is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> -as bad as marrying a widower—worse, for -that is voluntary.”</p> - -<p>“Not always—on the part of the widower,” -said the blue-eyed girl. “Dear, -dear, how queer some things are! I know -a pair of twins, and one of them is called an -old maid, the other a young widow. If -anybody can explain—”</p> - -<p>“Pshaw, I know a brother and sister who -have hair of the same identical shade. He -is called red-headed while she is a Titian -blonde,” said the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“And I went to school with a girl who -was always called snub-nosed by everybody -but the man she married,” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin; “he said her -nose was ‘tip-tilted, like the petal of a -flower.’ Can you explain that?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said the president, shortly, “she -has money. Oh, girls, I went to the photographer’s -last week, and I haven’t had -the courage even to snub my sister-in-law -since I got the proofs. Indeed, sometimes -I almost feel grateful to Tom for marrying -me—though of course I don’t let him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> -know that. You have no idea how I felt -when—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I have,” said the blue-eyed -girl, with a shudder. “I once knew an -awfully nice man, who turned out to be an -amateur photographer. He took two hundred -and seventy-five pictures of me one -summer, and I used to know just who my -enemies were. They would pretend that -they recognized me in them all!”</p> - -<p>“That’s nothing,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “I once appeared as -Cinderella at a charity entertainment, and -an amateur photographer took a picture of -me in costume. My foot was thrust forward, -and oh, girls, it looked the size of a -pumpkin. And the photographer actually -took credit to himself because the face was -an excellent likeness!”</p> - -<p>“I was once photographed by an amateur,” -said the brown-eyed blonde; “he -said my picture was his masterpiece. I -always keep it on my dressing table during -Lent,” she added.</p> - -<p>“I once knew an amateur photographer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> -quite well,” said the girl with classic profile, -“but for each photograph he took of -me I made one of him!”</p> - -<p>“With the result—” said the president.</p> - -<p>“That he gladly bartered his collection -for mine. Somehow, we haven’t been -very good friends since. I often think -things might have turned out very differently -if he hadn’t bought that camera;” -and she sighed, softly.</p> - -<p>“Well, girls,” said the president, “I am -afraid that we must adjourn, though I had -hoped we might find time for a social session -after the day’s work was concluded. -However, I promised both Tom and the -dressmaker that I’d meet them at five -o’clock. She won’t wait, and he will; so -I—”</p> - -<p>“But why not make him go to the dressmaker’s -with you,” said the brown-eyed -blonde.</p> - -<p>“Because I want to tell him just what I -think of his behavior—smoking in the drawing-room, -just because I happened to be -out. If he once heard Madame contradict<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> -me in the way she does, I could never hope -to produce any impression on him again.”</p> - -<p>Emily and Dorothy walked home in -silence, and the former noticed, with alarm, -that Dorothy did not attempt to protect -her skirts from the mud. When they -reached her door, she turned and said:</p> - -<p>“If I am not here when you come to-morrow, -you may know that I have gone to -take up social settlement work, and devote -my time to the poor. If you never see me -again, you may know that I forgive all my -enemies. It may make Frances feel better, -though I must say that she does not -deserve it.”</p> - -<p>“And Jack, dear; what shall I say to -him?”</p> - -<p>“If it is any comfort to him, you might -say that I do not regret my fruitless efforts -to make peace with him. I hope you will -think of me sometimes at work among the -poor and the afflicted. And now, good-bye—perhaps -forever!”</p> - -<p>Emily had walked perhaps a block, when -she heard her name called once more.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, what is it,” she said.</p> - -<p>“If you know any one who wants a nice -little dog, send him to me. I—”</p> - -<p>“What! You surely don’t mean -Clover?”</p> - -<p>“I just do. After what has happened -to-day, I never want to see the little beast -again! And, Emily—!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear.”</p> - -<p>“If you were in my place, would you -wear the blue or the geranium pink gown -at the dance to-night?”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter X<br /> - -<small>Woman as a Parliamentarian</small></h2> - - -<p>“Oh, dear me,” said the president, “I -don’t see why men can never understand -things.”</p> - -<p>“H’m,” said the brown-eyed blonde. -“Are we to understand that you have just -discovered that fact?”</p> - -<p>“Of course not,” said the president, -“but I’ve just had an argument with my -husband—that’s why I am late to-day, -girls. He will insist that this club ought to -have a constitution and by-laws, and a lot -of other unnecessary things, in spite of the -fact that we get along nicely just as well -without them.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose he would like to draft them -for us,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin. “That is always the way with men. -When they see women doing anything well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> -they always want to come in, and take the -credit of it.”</p> - -<p>“So they do,” said the girl with the -classic profile. “I suppose he would want -us to have parliamentary rules, too—as if -anybody would obey them! Anyhow, it is -only a man who can do but one thing at a -time. I suppose it is necessary in a club of -men that only one person have the floor at -a time, and all that sort of thing.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose it is,” said the president, “no -man that ever lived could tell what anybody -else was saying while he was talking himself. -Well, I only wish they could see how -orderly our meetings are, and how well we -keep to the subject in hand, without any -rules or regulations. By the way, let us -discuss ‘Woman as a Parliamentarian’ to-day. -What do you say?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, pshaw,” said the girl with the -Roman nose, “you said the subject was to -be ‘Woman as a Factor in the Business -World,’ and I was to speak on it.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, you can use the same line of -argument, anyhow; I forgot to tell you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> -that I had changed my mind. Girls, do be -quiet while she reads her paper on—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, but I am not prepared, anyhow,” -said the girl with the Roman nose. “I was -obliged to stop in the midst of it to write -the invitations for my five o’clock tea. A -nice job it was, too, for I just couldn’t get -all I wanted to say on a card!”</p> - -<p>“Why, I heard a man saying only the -other day, that you write the most charming -notes he ever read,” said the girl with -the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“Thank you for telling me, dear. I shall -use the telephone exclusively after this—the -idea of living to know that everybody -says when you are spoken of, ‘Yes, what -charming notes she does write.’ Think of -knowing that you are expected to be brilliant -when you write to say you can’t come -to dinner because your face is swollen, or -to ask how to take coffee stains out of your -new evening gown.”</p> - -<p>“I know all about that,” groaned the -brown-eyed blonde; “once in an evil hour -somebody called me ‘vivacious,’ and I’ve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> -cultivated three wrinkles in trying to live -up to it. Think of having to be vivacious -at a church sociable, or when the man to -whom you have just been revealing your -views on the subject of friendship turns out -to be engaged!”</p> - -<p>“Awful!” shuddered the girl with the eyeglasses, -“but pity me, all of you. People -who like me always say that I am a delightful -conversationalist; those who do not, -simply remark that I talk all the time. -Sometimes, when I am low-spirited, it seems -to me that there is not much difference between -the two.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but think of me!” moaned the -girl with the dimple in her chin. “Somebody -once discovered that I had a ‘little -head running over with curls,’ I calculate -that I have spent a fortune in patent curlers -and alcohol lamps since then!”</p> - -<p>“I suppose that is why you wouldn’t go -to the seashore with me last summer,” remarked -the president. “Well, for my part, -I only wish I knew who it was that first -called me a ‘nice little woman’—it’s as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> -bad as being named Smith or living in a -row!”</p> - -<p>“Pshaw, I wouldn’t mind that a bit,” -said the girl with the Roman nose, “there’s -nothing like a reputation for amiability—you -can be as ill-natured as you please, -once it is gained.”</p> - -<p>“Humph, you seem to forget that I have -a husband to remind me of things,” said -the president. “Well, there is one person -I don’t envy, and that is Barbara.”</p> - -<p>“Humph, I don’t think she is so beautiful,” -said the girl with the Roman nose; -“for my part, I think her nose might be -called a snub.”</p> - -<p>“Neither do I,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin; “the lower part of her -face is actually coarse.”</p> - -<p>“Say what you please,” said the president, -“she has the reputation of being a -beauty, and if she doesn’t look as well as -usual she just has to stay at home. She -has a cold now, and her complexion is -awful.”</p> - -<p>“Is it?” said the girl with the Roman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> -nose, “I must certainly stop in to see her -to-day. I never saw her when she had a -really bad cold.”</p> - -<p>“And so shall I,” said the brown-eyed -blonde, “she really ought not to be -neglected when she is ill.”</p> - -<p>“I shall go, too,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin. “And by the way, Dick -has been teasing for an introduction to her -for ever so long. This will be the very -time to take him to call on her—when she -is certain to be at home, I mean.”</p> - -<p>“I understand,” said the president; “it -is very thoughtful of you to want to cheer -up the poor thing. Girls, shouldn’t you -love to see her face when she finds that -Emily has brought a strange man to call -when her complexion is in such a condition.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t suppose that she will mind -Dick,” said the brown-eyed blonde; “nobody -else does, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Very true,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin, sweetly. “Of course he -has eyes for nobody else when I am in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> -room; but I did not expect you, Frances, -to acknowledge as much.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Dorothy,” cried the president, -“here you are, at last! It isn’t like you -to keep anybody waiting—that is, of course, -except a man; they are accustomed to it, -and—”</p> - -<p>“Why, does Dorothy ever keep a man -waiting?” said the brown-eyed blonde, -elevating her eyebrows. “I had understood -that she usually met them in the -front hall when—”</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear, but then I am always dressed -to see masculine callers. I have so many, -you know. Why, Evelyn, I would not -have been late for the world, but my new -gown—”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure I don’t blame you for it, -dear. I couldn’t have helped making a -dramatic entry in such a poem myself.”</p> - -<p>“But it wasn’t that which made me late, -dear. I fancied there was a tiny wrinkle in -the back of the waist. After examining it -in every mirror in the house, I discovered -that it was only the way I twisted my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> -shoulders to look at it, which made the -wrinkle.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I am glad that your mind is at -rest about it, anyhow,” said the girl with -the eyeglasses, “one’s back is so defenseless. -Annie once sat behind me at the theater, -and I endured agonies lest the bow at -the back of my collar was crooked. When -we came away, I found that she had actually -been so absorbed in the people on the -stage that she didn’t know I was there. I -had been wanting to see that play for -months, and, to save my life, I couldn’t -have told you a thing in it after I saw it.”</p> - -<p>“I know just how you felt,” said the -president, “I once went to a matinée with -Eustace just before Tom and I were married, -and I expected to have great fun, because -there was so much danger of being -found out. Toward the end of the first -act, I heard that horrid Miss Blanque in the -seat back of me, saying, ‘Oh, Tom, what -would she say if she knew!’ I can tell you -that my blood boiled when I thought of -such duplicity, and I was tempted to turn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> -and wither them on the spot with a single -glance!”</p> - -<p>“And did you?” eagerly asked the girl -with the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“Why—er, no. I thought Tom might -ask why I had come with Eustace, though -that was very different.”</p> - -<p>“Very different, indeed,” said the blue-eyed -girl. “And did you—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I didn’t enjoy that play a bit. I -told Eustace I had a headache at the end -of the second act, and—”</p> - -<p>“No doubt by that time it was true -enough. Such duplicity in one whom you -trusted was—”</p> - -<p>“Yes. And he had always said he did -not admire Miss Blanque at all. Well, I -went home and wrote him a scorching note. -I said that but for Eustace, I should never -have discovered that he was flirting with -another girl while pretending to think of -nobody but me!”</p> - -<p>“That was quite right. I hope he was -ashamed of himself!”</p> - -<p>“Well, no; he wasn’t. He had been at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> -a stockholder’s meeting all that afternoon. -My own father was there, and he called -him as a witness! And I actually had to -explain why I had gone to the matinée with -Eustace!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness, how awful!” cried -the girl with the Roman nose. “But you -said you heard Miss Blanque call him -Tom!”</p> - -<p>“So I did. It was Tom Dashaway who -was engaged to Elaine. And wasn’t it a -joke? She never found him out at all!”</p> - -<p>“It is awfully hard to get ahead of a -man,” sighed the girl with the classic profile; -“and it is the irony of fate that when -one <i>does</i> succeed in doing it, the victory is -usually of such a character that, in order to -retain it, one must say nothing at all about -it!”</p> - -<p>“Very true,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“Oh, I am so enraged with Harold -that I feel ready to die! I had an engagement -with him on Saturday afternoon, -and I forgot all about it and went out with -Marie. I never thought of him at all until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> -I saw him coming up the street, and then I -dragged Marie into a shop. I was so excited -that she thought a mad dog was coming, -and almost created a scene!”</p> - -<p>“And did he recognize you?” asked the -blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid so. He didn’t come, as -usual, on Sunday; and I took the dilemma -by the horns, and wrote him a note, saying -that I remained at home all Saturday afternoon -expecting him; and why didn’t he -come, as he had promised?”</p> - -<p>“Good idea!” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin; “then, he would think he -had mistaken some one else for you. You -could pretend to be very much offended at -that, and so snatch victory from the very -jaws of defeat.”</p> - -<p>“So I thought. But his reply—oh, I -knew I should die of rage! It said: ‘My -dear Miss Marion: Pray pardon me for -quite overlooking my engagement with you -on Saturday afternoon. Yes, I know you -were at home—for I saw you at the window -as I passed!’ And as long as I live, I shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> -never be able to tell that man what I really -think of him!”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, you can tell everybody else—and -that is almost as satisfying,” said the -president; “more so, perhaps; for then you -need not hear what he has to say in -reply.”</p> - -<p>“I am so glad to see you looking so well -to-day, Dorothy, dear,” whispered the girl -with the dimple in her chin; “it pleases me -to see that you still take an interest in -dress, and—”</p> - -<p>“Pray, why shouldn’t I take an interest -in dress? Really, Emily Marshmallow, you -are the queerest girl I ever did see! Here, -you see me trying to conceal my poor -broken heart with smiles, and then you begrudge -me the slight pleasure I take in appearing -decently clad. And when I mean -to go and teach in a free kindergarten—well, -next week, and wear a black gown -with white collar and cuffs for the rest of -my natural life!”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure I don’t mean to begrudge -you anything, dear. And Jack says that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> -he is sure that if you would just see him, -he could explain the whole thing—”</p> - -<p>“Of course, you have been on his side all -along. That is the way of the world; -everybody sympathizes with the one who -is in fault, and—”</p> - -<p>“He said that he was hurrying to catch -up with you on the street yesterday, and -that Frances—this is what he says, dear—not -knowing what he was doing, called him -to rescue her hat, which had blown away. -By the time he had done it, you were out -of sight. You see, Dorothy, he seems to -fancy that you are—well, rather nice to -Clarence, and—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I thought Clarence was coming. -So I am rather nice to the one human being -who really understands me, am I? Well, -you may just tell Jack Bittersweet that I -shall keep on being nice to him as long as I -choose—and he might know me well enough -by this time to be sure that I shall keep my -word!”</p> - -<p>“Dear me, Dorothy, you surely are not -crying, are you?” cried the brown-eyed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> -blonde. “Do tell me what is wrong; perhaps -I can help you.”</p> - -<p>“I am afraid not, dear. I was just telling -Emily that there is so much trouble in -the world that I sometimes feel actually -guilty when I think of my own absolutely -cloudless existence! By the way, have you -heard that Clarence Lighthed has just -bought that pretty place in Astor Street, -which was for sale? He must think that -my knowledge of architecture is valuable, -for he told his agent to make an offer for it -just because I admired it so much!”</p> - -<p>“Poor Effie Bittersweet,” said the president. -“I—ah, I don’t know what has made -me think of <i>her</i> just at this time, but Madame -told me yesterday that she had been -obliged to alter all her gowns for her. They -are a full half-inch too loose, she says!”</p> - -<p>“Really? Is Effie ill?” cried the blue-eyed -girl, in surprise. “How odd that you -never thought to mention it, Frances! I -should have gone to see her immediately, -had I known it. Pray, tell her so when -you see her next.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span></p> - -<p>“If you are so anxious to see her, why -not go with me, and tell her so, yourself,” -said the brown-eyed blonde, dryly.</p> - -<p>“In this gown? and when all of hers are -at the dressmaker’s! I couldn’t think of -doing such a mean thing. I only thought -that as you are always at her house, you -could take a message for me; that is all.”</p> - -<p>“Tom says Clarence asked him the other -day, if he didn’t consider that the best -thing a fellow could do was to marry some -nice girl, and settle down,” said the president, -suddenly.</p> - -<p>“Yes? And what did Tom say?” asked -the girl with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“He must have said ‘yes,’ dear; otherwise -he wouldn’t have dared to mention -the occurrence to me at all.”</p> - -<p>“What <i>I</i> am wondering,” said the blue-eyed -girl, innocently, “is: what on earth -made Clarence ask him such a question?”</p> - -<p>“Sheer curiosity, dear,” said the brown-eyed -blonde, sweetly; “what other reason -could he possibly have had? By the way, -girls, have you noticed that Marie is showing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> -great strength of character lately? She -has broken with Mr. Mushley, and actually -refused to send back any of his presents. -She says the sight of them could not fail to -remind him of his loss, and she would rather -have people speak unkindly of her than -cause him unnecessary pain!”</p> - -<p>“How sweet of her,” said the girl with -the Roman nose. “I only hope he will -appreciate her consideration. Girls, what -do you think Elizabeth told me the other -day? Why, that all the photographs of -girls my brother saw when he called on -Fred belonged to a man with whom he -used to room, and he was only keeping them -until he happened to run across him again.”</p> - -<p>“And she believed him?” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin, scornfully. -“How silly some girls are, to be sure! -They believe anything a man tells them. -To be sure, Dick was telling me the truth -when he said that he only wrote all those -sonnets to Clara as a joke; but that was -very different.”</p> - -<p>“Very different,” said the girl with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> -classic profile. “Girls, I heard to-day that -Jack Bittersweet is thinking of throwing up -his partnership, and emigrating to Australia. -I beg your pardon, Dorothy, did -you speak?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear, I was about to say that I -think ‘Woman as a Parliamentarian’ is the -most interesting topic we have ever discussed. -By the way, I wonder if the climate -of Australia is as unhealthy as some -people think! I—I am so fond of Effie -that I should hate to have anything happen -to her brother.”</p> - -<p>“I think Effie could bear it, dear,” said -the president, “even in her present state of -health. She says Jack is so cross that a -hyena would be amiable by comparison.”</p> - -<p>“Jack Bittersweet cross!” cried the -brown-eyed blonde. “Why, he is one of -the nicest fellows I ever knew, and—”</p> - -<p>“But after all, you are hardly a judge of -masculine dispositions, dear,” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin. “Your acquaintance -with the sex has been so limited, -you know. Oh, Evelyn, I’ve been intending<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> -to ask you if we can’t take up theosophy, -and discuss it thoroughly at one of our -meetings in the near future. I am so anxious -for a thorough knowledge of it.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed we can,” cried the president, -heartily. “You don’t know how pleased I -am to hear you say that, Emily,—well, if -there is one thing this club can safely pride -itself upon it is its thoroughness; and I -am sure that is more than most organizations -can do—!”</p> - -<p>“I know it,” said the blue-eyed girl; -“why, my father belongs to a club which -has taken six months to study the financial -problems of Europe and the United States. -They are not yet through discussing the -subject—and yet they have the temerity to -call themselves students!”</p> - -<p>“I hope you have pointed out to them -the superiority of our system over—”</p> - -<p>“Well, no, dear; somehow it does not -seem wise to discuss such a subject with -one’s father. Dear, dear, do you suppose -that girls were so very different in the days -when our fathers were young?”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Humph, no,” said the girl with the -Roman nose, “but they were much more -afraid of remaining single. Besides, our -fathers were young, too, in those days, and -ever so much easier to please. Still,” she -added, thoughtfully, “I don’t know that -it is altogether that. No one is so easily -subjugated as an elderly man who has become -a widower. It is so long since girls -have really tried to make themselves agreeable -to him, that all their little ways are -new to him.”</p> - -<p>“H’m, yes—unless he has grown daughters -of his own,” said the brown-eyed -blonde.</p> - -<p>“I don’t see what difference that makes. -They don’t try their little ways of—of being -nice on <i>him;</i> and seeing them tried on -some one else is very different.”</p> - -<p>“Isn’t it?” said the girl with the classic -profile. “Now, for instance, it is very interesting -to have a man pay one compliments; -but how it does bore one to hear -him say the very same things about another -girl!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Doesn’t it? and yet, such is the selfishness -of man, that he expects one to be as -much interested,” said the girl with the -eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls,” cried the girl with the dimple -in her chin, “you know that old Mrs. -Myllons is always making presents to Barbara -and me! Well, one day in the beginning -of the season she called for me to go -shopping with her. Of course, I went. -Now, it was not long after Barbara had encouraged -her to give me that awful picture -of Burns, and I was as eager for her to -select a present for Barbara as for me. I -knew I could direct her choice in either -case. To my joy, she stopped to look at -silks, and her choice fell upon a hideous -piece of green which would demolish Barbara’s -complexion completely—and I really -think that girl would sooner part with her -life than her complexion. I managed to -convey to Mrs. Myllons my personal preference -for a lovely pink which cost a dollar less -a yard, while encouraging her to buy the -green. You see she was planning her reception,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> -and Barbara and I were to assist -her on that occasion.”</p> - -<p>“So she took it, did she?” said the president. -“I only hope I may see Barbara in -the green!”</p> - -<p>“You never will,” wailed the girl with -the dimple in her chin—“it was for me! -Mrs. Myllons sent it with a lovely note -complimenting me on my unselfishness in -wishing Barbara to have the handsomer -piece. I dare not refuse to wear it at the -reception; and my own father actually says -it serves me right for trying to play a joke -on Barbara!”</p> - -<p>“You must not expect sympathy from -your father, dear,” said the girl with the -Roman nose; “he will expect you to wear -that gown all season, to save buying another. -And nothing will ever happen to it, -either,” she added. “It is only the gown -that is dearer to you than life itself which -has a fatal attraction for cups of coffee or -fowls carved by inexperienced hosts!”</p> - -<p>“Did I ever tell you of the awful thing -which happened to me last winter?” said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> -the girl with the classic profile. “I believe -not, though; we hadn’t started our club -then. Well, I just had to have a new -gown, and I was so afraid that my father -wouldn’t give it to me that I got it without -saying a word to him. I knew that -even if there was a cyclone over the bill -I’d have the gown anyhow. That being -the case, I got a much handsomer one than -I would have chosen under other circumstances.”</p> - -<p>“Quite right,” said the president; “if -there must be an unpleasant scene, better -have it over something which will fully -repay one.”</p> - -<p>“So I thought. Well, the gown only -came home the evening of my sister’s -dance; and I really wanted to enjoy that, -so I decided not to give papa the bill until -the next day, though the dressmaker was in -a great hurry for her money.”</p> - -<p>“They always are,” sighed the president.</p> - -<p>“Yes. I was having a lovely time until -supper was served, and then Mr. Rocksby -emptied a plate of lobster salad over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> -whole front of my new gown! Florence -was near; she never got farther away from -him than—than she could help; and—well, -you all know how he admires amiability! -He apologized profusely, and I, smilingly, -said, ‘Oh, it doesn’t make the least difference. -The gown is of no value at all, and -I should probably never have worn it again, -anyhow.’”</p> - -<p>“How lovely of you!” said the blue-eyed -girl. “It must have made a deep impression -upon him.”</p> - -<p>“H’m, I don’t know about that; but it -did upon me. I happened to turn my head -just then, and papa was at my elbow! I’d -rather not tell you the things he said when -I gave him the bill for that gown the next -morning!”</p> - -<p>“We can all guess,” said the blue-eyed -girl, with a shudder. “But wasn’t Mr. -Rocksby awfully nice to you after that?”</p> - -<p>“No, he wasn’t. He said that the girl -who cared nothing for the destruction of -such a handsome gown was too extravagant -to make a good wife for a poor man!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> -And the hardest part of it all was the fact -that he must have lots of money, else he -never on earth would speak of himself as -‘a poor man!’”</p> - -<p>“Let us hope your father never found -that out,” said the president, in devout -tones.</p> - -<p>“But he did. He overheard Mr. Rocksby -saying it to Florence; and that was one -of the things he mentioned when I gave -him the bill.”</p> - -<p>“You poor dear!” said the president. “I -declare it really depresses me to hear of -such persistent ill-luck. Well, girls, since -we have thoroughly exhausted our subject, -I think we may just as well adjourn.”</p> - -<p>The blue-eyed girl went home with the -girl with the dimple in her chin, and after -they had begun to sip their tea, she said:</p> - -<p>“Is it true that Jack intends to go to -Australia unless our quarrel is made up?”</p> - -<p>“He—he <i>says</i> he will,” was the cautious -reply.</p> - -<p>“Then, I want to know what you intend -to do in the matter?”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span></p> - -<p>“What I—intend to do in the matter?” -she gasped.</p> - -<p>“Yes. Of course it is thoroughly in your -hands. I have not made a single move -without consulting you, and being guided -by your advice. And if the quarrel is -never made up, and I die of a broken heart, -it will be entirely your fault!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter XII<br /> - -<small>The Club Investigates Theosophy</small></h2> - - -<p>“We will discuss to-day: ‘What Theosophy -Really Teaches,’” said the president, as -soon as she could make herself heard. -“You expressed an earnest wish to study -it,’ Emily, and—”</p> - -<p>“Did I?” asked the girl with the dimple -in her chin, looking surprised. “I had quite -forgotten it. However, I have been so -busy with my new hats and the chairmanship -of a committee appointed to instruct -tenement house mothers as to the best -method of bringing up children, that I have -had no time for anything else.”</p> - -<p>“And no wonder,” said the girl with the -classic profile. “How grateful those poor -ignorant people must be for your instruction!”</p> - -<p>“M—I don’t know about that. At<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> -times, I am very much discouraged. One -woman said she would gladly allow her children -to wear two fresh aprons a day, if I -would pay for the washing of them. Another -said that she had already raised six -children without my assistance, and she believed -she could worry on without it a bit -longer. Still another was so stupid that -she couldn’t be made to understand how -I, who had never had any children, was -able to offer her such valuable suggestions.”</p> - -<p>“As if it depended on experience,” said -the president. “The theory is ever so much -more important.”</p> - -<p>“That was what I said to the woman -who— You knew that I had resigned -from that same committee, didn’t you?” -said the girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“Why, no; this is the first I have heard -of it. And you were so enthusiastic, too! -What on earth has made you change your -mind?”</p> - -<p>“A woman. She—”</p> - -<p>“Oh! I thought, perhaps, it was a -man,” said the brown-eyed blonde.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span></p> - -<p>“No. I am not as easily influenced as -you are, dear. This woman lived up six -flights of the dirtiest stairs I ever saw. I -wondered at the time why she didn’t ask -the landlord to have an elevator put in; -probably she hadn’t thought of it. She -lived in two rooms, and you never saw such -awful poverty in your life. I thought, as -she was so awfully poor, she couldn’t have -much feeling, so I told her plainly that she -could never expect her children to love and -honor her if she did not at once give them -each a hot bath, and put up fresh curtains -and a pot or two of flowers in the windows. -Everybody knows how cheap curtains are -nowadays—not the real lace ones, of course, -but—”</p> - -<p>“Tamboured muslin and all that,” said -the president. “Was she grateful for your -interest in her?”</p> - -<p>“I fear not. She looked at me, earnestly, -and said: ‘You’ve been to one of -them, haven’t you? I’ve always wanted -to see somebody that had!’”</p> - -<p>“Was the woman mad?”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I was afraid so, and I began to back -out of the door, when she called, ‘Mary -Ellen! oh, Mary Ellen! come right in here -this minute! Here is a lady who has been -to one of them there beauty doctors we was -talking about yesterday! She must be awful -old, for she’s brought up a lot of children; -and come here to teach me how to raise -mine; and if that beauty doctor ain’t fixed -her up so she looks real young!’”</p> - -<p>“And did Mary Ellen come?” asked the -girl with the dimple in her chin, sympathetically.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. I didn’t wait; but I -am almost sure I heard several people -laughing as I came down-stairs. After this, -I shall devote my energies to foreign missions -or something like that. If the heathens -are not grateful for my efforts in their -behalf, they at least express themselves in -a tongue I don’t understand; and they are -too far away for me to hear them, even if I -<i>could</i> understand!”</p> - -<p>“Their ingratitude is awful,” wailed the -president. “Well, I’m glad you have told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> -me all this. Otherwise, I never could have -had courage to tell you my last experience -with visiting the dwellers in the slums as a -member of the ‘Society for Procuring Better -Ventilation in Other People’s Bedrooms!’ -I called on one woman, who really -seemed impressed by my arguments; she -was quite polite, and never took her eyes -off my bonnet all the time I was talking to -her. I was so pleased with her that I gave -her my address, and told her I would let -her have a lot of pamphlets on the subject, -if she would send for them. I knew I -could not get one of my maids to carry -them into that district, and besides her -husband could easily come for them. He -was a street paver, and no doubt would be -glad to get the exercise.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” said the blue-eyed girl. -“Did he come?”</p> - -<p>“No. But she herself walked in on my -reception day a few weeks later. She wore -a bonnet which was a perfect caricature of -mine. She said she hoped I would forgive -her for delaying the returning of my call so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> -long; and didn’t I think my reception-room -was too warm to be quite healthy?”</p> - -<p>“Did you ever hear of such impertinence! -and in your own house, too!” -said the girl with the eyeglasses. “What did -the other members of the society say?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. I resigned, by telephone, -as soon as Tom and the doctor succeeded -in bringing me out of my fainting -fit.”</p> - -<p>“And no wonder,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin, sympathetically. “And -yet, people complain that we take so little -interest in the poor! Only a real philanthropist -can appreciate the rebuffs we receive. -The only thing which helps us to -bear them, is the knowledge that we are -doing such incalculable good.”</p> - -<p>“It is very sweet and good of you to feel -so,” sighed the girl with the eyeglasses. -“I don’t know that I am quite so magnanimous, -myself. Oh, Catharine, dear; you -were speaking of Mr. Rocksby the other -day. Did you ever hear the end of his affair -with Florence?”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why, no,” said the girl with the classic -profile. “I only knew that it <i>had</i> an end. -How on earth did you find out about it?”</p> - -<p>“I heard that she and Effie had fallen -out, and I asked Effie all about it. Of -course she was glad enough to tell. It -seems that there was a dance at the club in -Arcadia, and Florence went out to stay -with the Brownstones and attend it. Mr. -Rocksby happened to meet her at the station, -and went out with her, intending to -return by the next train. It turned out -that there was no train back until midnight, -so the Brownstones invited him to dine and -go to the dance with them. They even -brought out a dress coat of Mr. Brownstone’s -for him to wear, and Florence told -Effie that he looked as if he weighed twenty -pounds less when he put it on.”</p> - -<p>“It’s really wonderful the way people -always help Florence along,” sighed the -girl with the classic profile. “Nobody ever -does such things for <i>me</i>.”</p> - -<p>“I fancy Florence wishes they hadn’t -for <i>her</i>, dear. Well, he was lovely to her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> -at the dance, and after a while he coaxed -her out on the balcony for a quiet talk. -Before she fairly knew what he was about, -he had fallen heavily on his knees and said, -‘Florence, I—’ when she heard the queerest -sound, and he sprang to his feet, with his -hand on his back!”</p> - -<p>“Good gracious, I hope the poor old -soul hadn’t hurt himself?”</p> - -<p>“No; I believe not. But he had split -Mr. Brownstone’s dress coat from top to -bottom. And though Florence tried her -very best, she never could coax him to finish -the sentence he had just begun!”</p> - -<p>“Poor Florence! No wonder she says now -she thinks a man looks better in cycling -garb than anything else. The sight of a -dress coat must be enough to make her ill.”</p> - -<p>“I should think so,” said the president. -“By the way, speaking of theosophy, I -wonder why its stout and elderly devotees -wear such flowing white robes? The -younger ones seem content with short -hair and general dowdiness.”</p> - -<p>“Good gracious, you will be wondering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> -next why politicians always wear diamonds -or why dressmakers invariably appear in -old-fashioned gowns,” said the girl with the -Roman nose; “and I must say, frankly, that -I can’t answer either of those questions. -By the way, Evelyn, I suppose I am to -congratulate you. I hear that Tom has -just inherited ten thousand dollars.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know whether you may congratulate -me, or not,” said the president. -“Sometimes, I—”</p> - -<p>“Oh! Then, there is no truth in the -report?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is true enough, but I don’t -know whether I am to be congratulated or -not. You see, I was getting along very -well as we were, and now I see that I need -a lot of things I never thought of before—more -than the extra income could possibly -cover—and I shall be absolutely wretched -unless I can have them.”</p> - -<p>“But you will have some of them, anyhow, -won’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I’m not sure. Tom talks now of putting -all the money into his business. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> -that case he will be obliged to work harder, -because he will have more at stake; he -says, also, that I shall have to be more -economical than ever because every cent -will be needed to extend his operations. -On the whole,” she added, thoughtfully, -“I am rather sorry his aunt is -dead. It was ever so much nicer when -she was living, and I could spend the -expected legacy royally, in imagination, at -least.”</p> - -<p>“You poor dear; to think of having cause -to regret the death of a wealthy relative,” -said the blue-eyed girl, “but—er—couldn’t -Tom put you on the pay-roll as a clerk, or -something?”</p> - -<p>“I did suggest that; but he said he’d -rather pay me a salary to stay out of -the office. I haven’t spoken to him -since.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know, I always think it a mistake -to stop speaking to any one,” said the -blue-eyed girl; “it seems unkind, and then -one loses the opportunity to say unpleasant -things to them, too.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I believe you are right,” said the president. -“No married man seems to appreciate -speechless indignation, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>“I must see you alone a moment, Emily, -dear,” whispered the blue-eyed girl. “Can’t -you come with me down to the other end -of the room, and let me pretend to straighten -your hair?”</p> - -<p>“With pleasure, dear,” replied Emily, -but there was no alacrity in her voice; -“only we must not stay too long lest -Frances suspect something.”</p> - -<p>“What if she does? She would only think -we are talking about her—and I doubt if -that would make her particularly comfortable. -It is about Jack. Perhaps, you can -pardon his behavior, but for me the last -link which bound us is broken, and I feel -now that I can start for India as a missionary -without a pang!”</p> - -<p>“My goodness, what has he done now? -I’ve been afraid all along, Dorothy, that -you would put off the reconciliation too -long. While he confines his attentions to -Frances, it is all right; but some time he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> -will find out that there are a number of nice -girls in the world, and—”</p> - -<p>“Frances has nothing to do with it,” she -replied, with great dignity. “It happened -this way: I was coming home about dusk -yesterday—you remember how it rained, -don’t you? Well, I was so miserable that I -didn’t even attempt to hold up my skirts—it -was a kind of a comfort to let them get -thoroughly draggled. A gust of wind blew -my umbrella to one side, and I saw Jack -and Mr. Bonds just ahead of me. By the -way, did you ever notice that—er—there is -a certain likeness between those two?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve always said they looked enough -alike to be brothers. Don’t you remember, -dear, when you were first engaged to Jack, -you wouldn’t speak to me for two weeks -because I mentioned the fact?”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t remember. Well, all of a -sudden, I felt that I could forgive Jack all -if I could just lay my head on his shoulder, -and hear him say that he was sorry.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Dorothy, dear, I am so glad! He -told me this morning that he—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span></p> - -<p>“If you will kindly allow me to proceed, -without interruption, I will explain how -that is now impossible. I was wondering -how Mr. Bonds could be gotten rid of, so -that Jack could go home with me and apologize -comfortably before dinner; when he -suddenly left him and ran up the Vansmith’s -steps. Jack was walking slowly, -and I just shut my eyes, and made a dash -to catch up with him. My own voice -sounded like a fog whistle, as I said: ‘W—wait -a moment; I—I wish to speak to you.’ -And, oh, Emily—”</p> - -<p>“You surely never mean to say that Jack -wouldn’t stop when you called?”</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t Jack. It was Mr. Bonds; -Jack had gone into the Vansmith house! -But, oh, Emily, if he really loved me, he -would have known that I was right behind -him, ready to forgive and forget. I shall -sail for India some time next week, and if I -never return, you—”</p> - -<p>“But, Dorothy, Jack is only too anxious -to make up. He says that a lover’s quarrel -is worse than a Welsh rarebit for keeping a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> -fellow awake at night. And he told me to -tell you—”</p> - -<p>“Well, Emily Marshmallow, if this is all -the interest you take in our discussion of -theosophy, we might as well adjourn, and -go to a millinery shop or an afternoon tea,” -said the president, with some asperity; -“and, after all the trouble I’ve taken in -reading everything the dictionary and the -encyclopædia have to say on the subject, I -think you might at least pay attention to -my remarks!”</p> - -<p>“Dear me, Evelyn, I really beg your -pardon. I shall borrow Elise’s note-book, -and study it all out before I sleep. There -is nothing so productive of a good night’s -rest as half an hour’s solid reading after -one is in bed. Why, the other night, I -took a book on philosophy to bed with me, -and before I had read six sentences I was -asleep. I never woke till nine o’clock in -the morning, and the gas was blazing all -that time. I doubt if I’d have waked then -if somebody hadn’t knocked at my door.”</p> - -<p>“It was the sweet consciousness of duty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> -well performed,” said the girl with the -Roman nose. “Now, if your book had been -a really interesting novel, you would have -been awake half the night.”</p> - -<p>“True,” said the girl with the classic -profile, “and been as yellow as a primrose -in the morning. I often say that a few -pages of really good literature just before -retiring is the best thing in the world for -the complexion. One girl I know says -she always reads her Bible then; but I -don’t approve of that—if one falls asleep -suddenly, allowing it to drop heavily upon -the floor, it is sure to awaken the other -members of the family. If I do that, my -father—”</p> - -<p>“I know,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin, plaintively. “Mamma says -that if I take any more solid reading to -bed I may confront papa with this month’s -gas bill, when it comes in, for she absolutely -refuses to do it!”</p> - -<p>“Pshaw, men are all alike; though I -didn’t use to think so,” said the president. -“Now, I always forget all about the topic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> -for discussion until half an hour before it is -time to start for the club. A man would -say that he hadn’t time to prepare for it, -but a woman’s courage never deserts her. -I am all ready at the appointed time, even -if I have to tell the cook to have anything -she chooses for dinner. Now, Tom thinks -I ought to be ready by the day before, even -if I have to give up a tea or a luncheon to -do it.”</p> - -<p>“The idea!” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“Really, women have so many -things to do nowadays that is a wonder -they find time for them all; and yet, -men seem to expect them to be just as good -housekeepers as they were when they had -nothing else to do. I regret to see that -the sexes have not progressed equally.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed they have not,” said the brown-eyed -blonde. “Who ever heard of the -new man? And if there <i>was</i> such a creature -he would no doubt be so effeminate -that nobody would care anything for -him.”</p> - -<p>“True,” said the girl with the classic profile,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> -“sometimes, I fear that Helen’s husband -will develop such proclivities. Of -course it is only a harmless eccentricity -which makes him sew on his own buttons—I -can overlook that. But the other day he -was getting ready to go down town while -she was out on her bicycle. Just because -she was wearing one of his shirts and a collar -and tie of his, he dressed up in that -lovely lace collarette of hers, and was -actually going out with it on! What would -people have said of a man who appeared in -such feminine attire!”</p> - -<p>“Goodness me, I hope he is not losing -his mind,” said the president. “However, -if he is, Helen is always ready to supply -him with a piece of hers. By the way, -girls, what queer questions men do ask! -Several of Tom’s friends dined with us last -evening, and they actually wanted to know -why a stout woman always selects a tiny -dog for a pet, while a wisp of a woman will -be tugging at the chain of an enormous -mastiff. I simply told them that they -must not be so curious, for, though I would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> -not confess it to <i>them</i>, I really could not -answer the question.”</p> - -<p>“And you were quite right,” said the -blue-eyed girl, indignantly; “by and by, -they will actually expect us to give a reason -for everything we do! Which is palpably -absurd, since we so often do things -without any reason at all!”</p> - -<p>“Well, luckily, we are not responsible -for anybody,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“Oh! I just wouldn’t be a man -for anything in the world.”</p> - -<p>“Would anybody, if he could help it?” -queried the brown-eyed blonde. “Of -course, they all pretend to like it, but one -can easily see the hollowness of the pretense. -Why, they would not be half so -anxious to criticise our actions if they -didn’t feel that we have the best of things. -Of course, I would not be a man for anything—”</p> - -<p>“Nor I,” said the president, “and have -to give up my comfortable seat in a street -car every time a woman entered.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But of course it is only right for them -to give up their seats to us,” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“Certainly, it’s right. Only I shouldn’t -like to have to do it myself.”</p> - -<p>“Of course not. Or to have to pay for -pretty things for somebody else to wear. -Or to have to drop a nice book, and go out -in the rain to escort home a girl who had -been calling on some one else,” said the -girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“Yes. Or to have to buy candy for -somebody else to eat,” said the girl with -the classic profile.</p> - -<p>“M’hm. Or to have the nearest woman -manage one, without one being aware of -the fact,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. -“I know! Or to have to fall in love with a -girl, and marry her, just because she had -made up her mind that one should,” said -the blue-eyed girl.</p> - -<p>“Yes. Well, really the poor things have -a great deal to endure, though many of -their sufferings are mercifully hidden from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> -them,” said the girl with the dimple in her -chin. “But, after all, we are very nice to -them, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Of course we are,” said the president; -“we wouldn’t get nearly so many things -out of them, if we were not. Girls, I hear -that Annie has finally decided to marry -Nelson.”</p> - -<p>“I thought she had done that long ago,” -said the brown-eyed blonde. “Talk of a -woman not knowing her own mind. That -man never—”</p> - -<p>“He knew his own mind well enough, -dear. It was only about Annie’s that he -was doubtful,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin. “Annie told me herself -how it came to be settled. She said that -she couldn’t decide whether to accept him -or not—”</p> - -<p>“Which means that she had done all she -could, and was doubtful whether he would -do the rest,” said the brown-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps so. At any rate it was still -uncertain until last Tuesday. He had been -out of town for several days, and returned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> -unexpectedly. Annie had gone out to -mail a letter, and just as she raised the lid -of the letter-box she saw him coming up -the street toward her. As they walked away -together, she glanced down and saw that -she still held her letter in her hand, but her -pocket-book was gone!”</p> - -<p>“Goodness, you don’t mean to say that -she—”</p> - -<p>“I do. She said she knew at once that -she must care a good deal for a man whose -sudden appearance was enough to make her -post her pocketbook instead of a letter—so -she said ‘Yes.’”</p> - -<p>“As soon as he asked her,” said the -brown-eyed blonde. “Well, what he can see -in <i>her</i>, I’m sure <i>I</i> don’t know!”</p> - -<p>“What <i>she</i> can see in <i>him</i> puzzles me,” -said the blue-eyed girl, thoughtfully. “I -don’t see how any girl can really love and -honor a man who wears red neckties; do -you?”</p> - -<p>“For <i>my</i> part, I can’t see what they see -in each other,” said the president, thoughtfully. -“Well, I really think Annie ought to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> -give me a handsome present, for it was I -who brought it all about.”</p> - -<p>“Mercy, did you speak ill of her to Nelson?”</p> - -<p>“No; but I told Tom the other day that -I didn’t believe that girl would ever get -married. And when I make a remark like -that about any girl, she may as well set -about selecting her trousseau, for somebody -is sure to propose to her at once.”</p> - -<p>“And yet, I doubt if Annie would be -grateful to you, if you told her,” said the -blue-eyed girl, thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>“One must not expect gratitude in this -world, dear. The consciousness of having -done one’s duty is reward enough for a -right-minded person. By the way, Emily -dear, I hear that Dick says he will positively -wait no longer. You must give him a decisive -answer one way or the other, or -he—”</p> - -<p>“Yes; but he hasn’t yet screwed up the -courage to tell <i>me</i> so, dear. When he -<i>does</i>, it will be time for me to make up my -mind. I do wonder,” she added, thoughtfully,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> -“why a girl who has one lover -already, is sure to win the affections of another -man?”</p> - -<p>“Cause and effect,” said the president, -gloomily. “I never thought of buying that -new hat until I heard Helen tell the milliner -it was too expensive for her. After I -got it home, I found it didn’t match a -thing I possessed. I just believe Helen said -that before me for meanness, knowing I -would be compelled to buy it, then. And -now the milliner absolutely refuses to take -it off my hands. I threatened to withdraw -my trade if she didn’t; but it had no -effect. She knows I have more hats -already than I need for this season, and by -the time they are all worn out—and paid -for—I shall have forgotten all about it.”</p> - -<p>“But why not pay your bill at once, and -open another with somebody else? That—”</p> - -<p>“I don’t care to let Tom see the old bill -just now, dear. It wouldn’t matter ordinarily, -but since he inherited that money -from his aunt he is feeling unusually poor, -and it might cause a family unpleasantness.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span></p> - -<p>“How thoughtful you always are, Evelyn! -Really, the study of theosophy -seems to have developed your character -wonderfully. I do hope you will explain -it all thoroughly to me,” said the girl with -the Roman nose; “I am really so stupid -that even after to-day’s discussion, I feel -that I do not fully understand it.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps at some future time,” said the -president, hastily. “I am sorry to say -that we really must adjourn now. My -mother-in-law is coming to dine with us, -and I don’t want her poking about the -house in my absence.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Chapter XII<br /> - -<small>A Discussion and a Surprise</small></h2> - - -<p>“‘Civic Organizations Among the Ancient -Greeks,’ will be our topic for to-day,” -said the president. “And, oh, girls, I am -so angry with Tom that I would go right -home to mamma, but for the fact that she -always agrees with him. Papa invariably -thinks <i>I</i> am in the right; but he would say -unpleasant things about Tom, and I -shouldn’t like that, either. The consequence -is that I must just endure my -martyrdom in silence.”</p> - -<p>“But, what is wrong? Is it about that -legacy from Tom’s aunt?” queried the girl -with the Roman nose. “Dear me, I often -think it’s so hard that really poor men are -usually nicer than those that have money.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see why you always think of -money in connection with me,” said the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> -president. “Heaven knows, I am not mercenary, -and I only want to live well and -dress properly, in order that people may -see Tom is not stingy. No, this is quite -another matter. It all came from the topic -I selected for to-day. I was talking, rather -learnedly, about ‘Civic Organizations -Among the Ancient Greeks,’ when Tom -asked me suddenly what ward I live in! Of -course, I didn’t know—”</p> - -<p>“Why, neither do I,” said the brown-eyed -blonde, “but it must be the same one, -for we both live on the north side!”</p> - -<p>“I really don’t know, either,” said the -girl with the dimple in her chin. “I don’t -see what difference it makes though, for I -could ask the clerk at the corner drug store -if I needed particularly to know.”</p> - -<p>“Of course you could,” said the president, -“and so could I. But, Tom was -awfully unpleasant—he couldn’t have been -more so if we had been married twenty -years instead of two. He said he didn’t -see any use in my poking about among -the civic organizations of ancient Greece,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> -when I did not know what ward I lived -in.”</p> - -<p>“Humph! I suppose next thing he will -be saying that he doesn’t see any use in -the Teacup Club,” said the girl with the -classic profile, in sarcastic tones. “A man -will say anything when he is angry.”</p> - -<p>“Humph! I fancy he will hardly say -anything like that, dear. He knows it has -its use, if it is only to make me look more -leniently on his own club. When we first -organized it he complained a good deal -about the demands it made on my time and -attention, and I just said: ‘Oh, very well, -dear, let us both give up our clubs, and -spend all our spare time at home together.’ -After that, he held his peace on the subject.”</p> - -<p>“But you wouldn’t have given it up, -would you?” asked the brown-eyed blonde, -anxiously.</p> - -<p>“Of course not—but Tom didn’t know -that. By the way, Emily, what is making -Dorothy so late to-day?”</p> - -<p>“I fancy she is engaged,” replied the girl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> -with the dimple in her chin, demurely; “at -least Jack Bittersweet was on his way to -call on her a couple of hours ago, and I -suppose—Pardon me, Frances, did you -speak?”</p> - -<p>“I—I was about to say, ‘how nice’—for -Dorothy, I mean. By the way, girls, I—I -am thinking of going to Omaha for a nice, -long visit as soon as I can get ready.”</p> - -<p>“But I thought you had already refused -Lola’s invitation,” said the girl with the -dimple in her chin.</p> - -<p>“I—I had. But, really I have bought -so many pretty things of late that I can get -ready for my visit without the slightest -trouble, and as my last visit was cut short, -I—”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I remember that quite well, dear. -I remember that you came home a few days -after Dorothy broke with poor Jack. But -I don’t understand why you have been -embroidering so much table linen lately. -You surely will not need that for a visit to -Omaha.”</p> - -<p>“Why, er—no. I—I shall take it as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> -present to Lola’s mother, I think. You -have no idea of how fond she is of me.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed, I have, dear,” said the girl -with the dimple in her chin, warmly. -“I’ve often noticed that married women -who have no grown sons <i>are</i> fond of you. -It is rather a pity, as things turned out, -that you cut your last visit short; I am -really afraid, if you go now, that you will -miss Dorothy’s wedding.”</p> - -<p>“At any rate, dear, she will not miss it -herself. Really, I think the poor girl -would have lost her mind if she had lost -Jack. These disappointments are so hard -to bear that—”</p> - -<p>“I shall tell her that you said so, dear. -I am sure she and Jack will both—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls,” said the president, hastily, -“do you suppose that Greek women used -actually to wear those dowdy gowns on the -street? Of course they would do very well -for tea gowns, but—”</p> - -<p>“I don’t suppose anything of the kind,” -said the girl with the Roman nose. “It -was chiefly the men who made the antique<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> -statues, wasn’t it? Very well, then, the -poor creatures had no idea of style, and -just reproduced the gowns they happened -to admire themselves.”</p> - -<p>“True,” said the girl with the classic -profile; “men always detest the ruling fashion -of the hour. And yet, they seem to -think we dress to please them,” she added, -derisively.</p> - -<p>“I know it. And the women of ancient -Greece were just like anybody else, I suppose,” -replied the girl with the eyeglasses. -“However, if they really wore white as frequently -as they seem to, they must have -had more money than I have to pay the -laundress.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, or the principal street of Athens—I -forget the name of it, must have been a -good deal cleaner than State street,” said -the girl with the dimple in her chin. “I -don’t suppose, however, that the carving -of statues could have made much dirt, and -really the ancient Greeks seem to have done -little else.”</p> - -<p>“At any rate their system of civic organization<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> -was—dear me, what was it? I had -it all written down on the back of an invitation -to dinner, and I must have lost it as -I came along,” wailed the president. “Oh, -dear, what shall I do?”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, you can tell us what you -remember,” said the girl with the Roman -nose, soothingly. “None of us know -enough about it to detect the fact if you -<i>are</i> wrong.”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t that; I’ve got it all at home in -the old school book I copied it from. But, -as I say, it was on the back of an invitation -to dinner, and I can’t remember whether -it was for next Tuesday or Thursday!”</p> - -<p>“Goodness me, that is really serious,” -said the girl with the dimple in her chin; -“but perhaps Tom will remember.”</p> - -<p>“Tom remember the date of an invitation -to dinner! How little you know about -men. Why, he would tell me the wrong -day, if he did remember, just to escape -putting on his dress coat and going with -me.”</p> - -<p>“Humph! from what Helen says, you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> -may be thankful that he goes at all. Her -husband does not. She says—”</p> - -<p>“Helen didn’t manage him properly at -first, that’s all. When Tom first began to -declare he wouldn’t go to dinners, I would -just say, ‘Very well, dear, we’ll both remain -at home, and tell our would-be hostess -the true reason why we didn’t come. And -now, I often reap the benefit of that Spartan -policy. Of course, he is sometimes detained -at the office by important business, -or even called off by a telegram just as we -are about to start. However, I always remember -that he is only human after all, -and seldom revenge myself in any other -way than by telling him that Mr. Troolygood -sat next me at table. Life will be a -much more complicated affair for me if that -dear fellow ever takes it into his head to -marry.”</p> - -<p>“I think you are perfectly safe for some -time to come, dear,” said the girl with the -classic profile, “his married sister, with -whom he lives, is anxious for him to marry. -She has the habit of inviting any girl he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> -seems to admire, so constantly to the house -that she soon loses all her charm for him.”</p> - -<p>“No man likes courtship made easy,” -said the girl with the Roman nose. “Mr. -Troolygood will surely die a bachelor unless -he succeeds some day in unearthing a -girl whom his sister dislikes. That is -hardly probable, either, since he invariably -admires a girl with money—a habit, by the -way, which I have also noticed in other -young clergymen.”</p> - -<p>“It is not confined to young clergymen, -dear,” remarked the girl with the eyeglasses. -“Talk about women being mercenary, -I have often noticed that men think -much more of money than we do. We -know that they must provide for us somehow, -and the doing of it is their affair.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls,” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin, “what excellent mental training -we do receive at this club! Dorothy -was wondering the other day how we ever -got along without it; and, indeed, so was I. -A reputation for being intellectual is the -nicest thing in the world; once you have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> -it, you can be as silly as you choose, and -people will feel actually grateful to you for -unbending. It has its drawbacks, though. -I find one must be more careful than ever -to have cuffs and gloves immaculate.”</p> - -<p>“True,” said the girl with the classic -profile. “Girls, a college professor asked -me the other day why we always wear veils -on the street!”</p> - -<p>“And what did you reply?” queried the -girl with the Roman nose.</p> - -<p>“To keep our faces clean! What did -you suppose?”</p> - -<p>“Oh! I thought you told him the -truth. However, the more intellectual a -man is the less he understands women. -One of his students would—”</p> - -<p>“Know better than to expect the truth -in reply to such a question? Of course he -would,” said the president; “but oh, girls, -if an octogenarian knew as much about us as -a sophomore <i>thinks</i> he does, what a queer -world this would be!”</p> - -<p>“Unpleasant rather than queer,” said the -girl with the dimple in her chin. “Of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> -course we understand men thoroughly; but -that is a very different matter.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, very different,” said the girl with -the Roman nose. “But aren’t they queer? -Why, I once knew a man who called a girl -a ‘most adorable little flirt,’ and then felt -very much aggrieved when she kept on -flirting after they became engaged!”</p> - -<p>“Lots of girls never have an opportunity -to flirt until they <i>are</i> engaged,” remarked -the girl with the dimple in her chin. “To -some men, an engagement ring on a girl’s -hand has the same effect that a ‘Keep off -the grass’ sign has on children.”</p> - -<p>“True,” said the girl with the Roman -nose. “Oh, Marion, shall you also visit -Lola this year?”</p> - -<p>“Not this century,” replied the girl with -the eyeglasses. “Didn’t you hear what -happened the last time she was here?”</p> - -<p>“Why, no; except that she was to dine -with you. What happened? Did she discuss -art in a monologue from soup to coffee? -or, did—”</p> - -<p>“Yes, she did that; but it wouldn’t have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> -really mattered, except for—you see it was -this way: when she was here last summer, -she gave me one of her, well, <i>she</i> calls them -paintings. I accepted it with profuse thanks; -and hung it in the darkest corner of the attic -as soon as her train was well out of Chicago. -When I heard that she was coming -back, I fished the picture out of its corner, -and gave it a prominent place in the parlor, -telling her it had been there all the time.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m sure she ought to be satisfied -with that,” said the president; “not -many people care enough for Lola to hang -her pictures even temporarily on the parlor -walls. The one she gave me is in the -cook’s bedroom—the poor woman has been -complaining of insomnia lately.”</p> - -<p>“No wonder. Unluckily I forgot to -coach my family, and when we came in -from the dinner table, my brother Frank -joined us. You know Lola <i>is</i> pretty when -she remembers to comb her hair and remove -her painting apron.”</p> - -<p>“Mercy on us! did he criticise her painting -while she was present?”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span></p> - -<p>“No. He only said, ‘Hello, where did -you get this new picture? I never saw it -before. Looks like the one that has been -vegetating in the attic!’”</p> - -<p>“You needn’t tell us the rest, dear; we -all know Lola. It was too bad, when you -had only done it to spare her feelings, too!”</p> - -<p>“Dear! dear!” said the girl with the dimple -in her chin. “I wonder why the most -hopeless artists are ever the most generous -with their productions? They seem to -wish to give them away, whereas—”</p> - -<p>“Self-preservation, dear. When one has -done something dreadful, one dislikes to be -constantly reminded of the fact!” said the -girl with the classic profile. “You know -my eldest sister, don’t you? Well, her -husband has an awful temper, but he seldom -gives Sophie any trouble. Whenever -he begins to be unpleasant, she says: ‘Isn’t -it fortunate, dear; if you should die, or we -should ever separate, I could have a good -income, anyhow—I could just publish in -book form the poems you wrote to me before -we were married!’”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span></p> - -<p>“And what then?” asked the president, -breathlessly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, he kicks the dog or snubs his typewriter; -but he never says another word to -Sophie.”</p> - -<p>“And yet, Sophie used to be considered -dull at school,” said the president, thoughtfully. -“Well, that’s only another proof that -even genius needs a special opportunity.”</p> - -<p>“Speaking of opportunities,” said the -girl with the eyeglasses, “have you heard -of Marie’s last mishap? No? I thought -not. You know that delightful young physician -who cares nothing for society, and -declines all non-professional invitations, and -never calls on a woman under seventy. -Well, Marie has developed neuralgia, grip, -and nervous prostration in swift succession, -and he has been called in to attend her. -You see, it is this way: it gives her an opportunity -to see him in bewitching tea-gowns, -and she studies new poses on the -sofa when she is not taking powders.”</p> - -<p>“Oh! And when are they to be married?” -asked the president.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Never, dear. He says he had long loved -her silently, and was trying to summon up -enough courage to tell her so. Now, however, -he sees that she is too delicate to -make a good wife for a hardworking professional -man!”</p> - -<p>“Humph! No wonder Marie’s little -brother told mine he wants to go away to -boarding-school,” said the girl with the -Roman nose. “Well, I always did hate -deceit. I never—”</p> - -<p>“By the way,” said the president, “I -thought you had such a bad headache that -you could not go out to-day.”</p> - -<p>“That was when mamma wanted me to -accompany her to a meeting at the orphan -asylum, dear. I felt ever so much better -after she was gone.”</p> - -<p>“I am so glad you care so much for the -club,” said the president. “I gave up a -luncheon at my mother-in-law’s, in order -to come, myself. I wanted awfully to go—all -the other guests were lovely old ladies—perfect -walking encyclopædias on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> -subject of servants, and the proper time to -hunt moths or cut first teeth.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I forgot to tell you, dear,” said the -girl with the dimple in her chin. “Tom’s -mother sent you a message by me that she -had put the luncheon off until Friday because -you were so disappointed at your inability -to be present.”</p> - -<p>“Well, if she expects me to waste a -whole morning on those old frumps, she is -very much mistaken, that is all. And you -are no true friend of mine, or you would -have told her I had an engagement for that -day, too!”</p> - -<p>“Humph! You seem to forget that I -am afraid of her, too. She was my old -Sunday-school teacher, and she would as -lief be disagreeable to me as to you. Besides, -it is not as if Tom had no unmarried brothers. -One has to consider her feelings, you -know, and—”</p> - -<p>“Very true, dear. You always were -charitable, Emily—I can just as well go to -bed with a cold on Friday. Well, I fear we -must adjourn now. What a profitable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> -meeting we have had! I only wish Dorothy -could have heard some of the arguments -that—”</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed, Dorothy needs all of the -good sense she can possibly obtain in -any form,” murmured the brown-eyed -blonde.</p> - -<p>“Not now that she is about to be married, -dear,” said the girl with the dimple in -her chin. “However, I am sure that nothing -save death or a boil on her chin will -ever keep her away from another meeting. -She says she considers the founding of this -club her life work.”</p> - -<p>“And a noble one, too,” said the president, -warmly. “Well, if ever a girl entered -upon matrimony with bright prospects, <i>she</i> -is that one. I verily believe she could -make Jack Bittersweet do anything she -wanted, whether he liked or not!”</p> - -<p>“At any rate, she has begun well,” said -the brown-eyed blonde, sweetly.</p> - -<p>When the girl with the dimple in her chin -reached the blue-eyed girl’s home, she ran -up the stairs to her friend’s room, two steps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> -at a time, and burst open the door. That -young person was discovered, radiant with -smiles in spite of the traces of recent tears; -she was seated at her desk, and the waste -basket was overflowing with crumpled -sheets of her best note paper.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you dear, Dorothy,” said the visitor, -“tell me all about it, do! I was dying -to come earlier, but I wanted to see what -Frances would do when she heard that Jack -was coming here, so I had to stay all -through the meeting. Evelyn says that -no girl ever had brighter prospects in marrying -than you, and—”</p> - -<p>“Oh! then, they all know I am to be -married, do they? Did Jack tell? I -thought he would hold his peace, because—”</p> - -<p>“Well, not exactly; but he told me that -he was on his way here to ask you to forgive -him for everything he ever did! And -he said he just wouldn’t come away until -you set your wedding-day, and so—”</p> - -<p>“Oh! he told you that, did he? Well, -it is set, and—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Dear old Jack, he must be the happiest -fellow in the world, for he—”</p> - -<p>“M—I can’t say that he looked it when -he went away; however, some people have -such a way of concealing their emotions. I -never had myself; I am as open as the day—anybody -could know just what I intended -to do all the time.”</p> - -<p>“Of course; I told Jack how it would be -from the start. But I don’t see why he -looked so melancholy when he came away. -Didn’t you set the wedding day early -enough to please him?”</p> - -<p>“He said he didn’t want to know the -day, and—”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t want to know the day of his -own wedding! Why, the poor boy must -be crazy; he—”</p> - -<p>“The date of his <i>own</i> wedding! Emily -Marshmallow, are you out of your mind? -I said the date of <i>my</i> wedding, and—”</p> - -<p>“Would you mind feeling my pulse, -dear, or examining my eye to see if there is -a look of insanity in it! For really, I don’t -see how you and Jack can be married to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> -each other on different days, unless you are -thinking of matrimony on the instalment -plan; and that—”</p> - -<p>“Married to each other? Jack Bittersweet -and I? Why, Emily Marshmallow, -you haven’t listened to a word I have been -saying, when I have been telling you for -the last half hour I am to marry Clarence -Lighthed, the only man I ever loved, next -month, and—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Dorothy, don’t! If Jack did not -ask you to marry him to-day, it was only -that he hadn’t the courage, and—”</p> - -<p>“He did, dear—twice. But you see, I -had accepted Clarence an hour before he -came. Well, it is a great comfort to know -that I never encouraged poor Jack! You -will bear me out in that, I know. And oh, -Emily, Clarence is the dearest person in -the world! You can’t imagine how happy -first love makes one! I—I wouldn’t say a -word to Frances now if I saw her with -one eyebrow a full half inch higher than -the other. But, what is the matter? -You—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I—I feel a little faint, dear; that is all. -Did you—er, try to soften the blow to -Jack?”</p> - -<p>“I did. I advised him to marry Frances; -said that I knew she would make him happier -than I could ever have done, and their -marriage was the one thing needed to complete -my own happiness.”</p> - -<p>“Well, he wouldn’t marry her now if—not -if she was a wealthy young widow. -Did—did Jack say anything about me?”</p> - -<p>“Why, er—yes; he seemed sort of -offended with you for something. I don’t -know what it was. The only reference I -made to you in our whole conversation, was -to tell him that you had seen all along that -I intended to marry Clarence. Of course -if you had not been able to make him understand -that fact, it was his own stupidity, -and not your fault. Oh, I tell you, I -always defend my friends—even before they -are attacked! But what is the matter? -You look sort of queer?”</p> - -<p>“I—I was only wondering what they -would say at the club! They—they seemed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> -to have an idea that you would marry Jack, -and—”</p> - -<p>“Marry Jack Bittersweet! What on -earth could have put such an idea into their -heads? I only hope, Emily, that you—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, dear; nothing of the kind. -I—I merely told them that he was on his -way to ask you to marry him, and—”</p> - -<p>“Very thoughtful it was of you, dear. I -only wish I could ask you to be bridesmaid -for your pains; but Clarence has somehow -gotten an idea that you are not a friend of -his. There was no one else to oppose the -match, and I—I doubt if he’d have asked -me quite as soon if you hadn’t; so I shall -try to forgive you, in time, for the things -you have said about him.”</p> - -<p>The girl with the dimple in her chin -gasped, but her only reply, was: “I really -don’t know what the other members of the -club will say. They—”</p> - -<p>“The club. I am so glad you mentioned -it. There was a meeting to-day, was there -not? I was just writing Evelyn a letter -when you came in, saying—”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That you want us to meet twice a week -after this! How nice; that is just—”</p> - -<p>“No, dear; it was a letter of resignation -I was writing. Dear Clarence has such a -horror of intellectual women, that I—”</p> - -<p>“But, Dorothy, you know when you -founded the club, you said the membership -would be for life, and—”</p> - -<p>“Emily Marshmallow, I never said anything -of the kind! And, if I <i>did</i>, only a -person of your colossal selfishness would -expect me to waste my time on a mere -club when I want to devote eighteen -hours a day to the selection of my trousseau, -and the other six to Clarence! And, -if you want to know my real opinion of the -club, I consider it the greatest bore among -my social duties!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a><br /><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="copyright"><br /><br /> -<b>PRINTED BY R. R. DONNELLEY<br /> -& SONS CO. AT THE LAKESIDE<br /> -PRESS, FOR WAY & WILLIAMS,<br /> -CHICAGO, U.S.A. MDCCCXCVII<br /></b> -</div> - -<hr class="full" /> -<div class="tnote"><div class="center"> -<b>Transcriber’s Notes:</b></div> - -<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired. This text uses both single -quotation marks and double quotation marks within dialogue. This was -retained as printed.</p> - -<p>Page 82, “nowaday” changed to “nowadays” (nowadays don’t intend)</p> - -<p>Page 216, “absense” changed to “absence” (bears my absence)</p> - -<p>Page 245, removed repeated word “heard” (you heard Miss Blanque)</p> - -<p>Page 296, “he” changed to “her” (criticise her painting)</p></div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Teacup Club, by Eliza Armstrong - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEACUP CLUB *** - -***** This file should be named 50751-h.htm or 50751-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/7/5/50751/ - -Produced by Emmy, Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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