【正文】 t it made herlaugh.If you think it39。s it. But a little more animation 39。t be sincere with anybody.Oh no, I don39。t be much questionabout it.They both laughed, and Alma said, They seem to be greatly amused withsomething in there.Me, probably, said Beaton. I seem to amuse everybody tonight.Don39。s what you say, Alma.Well, if there were something you wished me to be, I could be it.We might adapt Kingsley: 39。m fickle, but I39。t done anything with it. Nadel thought he would take hold of itat one time, but he dropped it again. After all, I don39。s foolish look ofembarrassment.He tried to recover his dignity in saying, He39。 and you have the secret of my happiness He threwhimself impulsively forward in his chair.Oh, pose, pose! she cried.I won39。ve broken your word. You know I wouldn39。 you might aswell understand it once for all. Don39。t get it, and they don39。t give up art. We could work together. Youknow how much I admire your talent. I believe I could help itserve it。t believe me,of course. Why do men think life can be only the one thing to women?And if you e to the selfish view, who are the happy women? I39。t.I think the women who keep their hearts have an even chance, at least,of having heartAh, there39。tsee why we shouldn39。 but he was not disappointed at her rejection ofhis love。t hurt the girl?But it does hurt her, Alma. Itit39。s mind.What do you mean?I mean that he spoke to me the other night simply because Mr.Fulkerson39。s very much in earnest withMiss Vance at times, and with Miss Dryfoos at others. Sometimes he39。EveryOther Week.39。ve been honest with Mr. Beaton. I don39。s ing on any other basis.Mrs. Leighton felt the fort of the critical attitude far too keenly toabandon it for anything constructive. She only said, You know verywell, Alma, that39。 but they did notfind Mrs. Horn at home, and neither she nor Miss Vance came to see themafter people returned to town in the fall. They tried to believe for atime that Mrs. Horn had not got their cards。 but Mela had nothing. Sometimes she evenwished they were all back on the farm.It would be the best thing for both of you, said Mrs. Dryfoos, inanswer to such a burst of desperation. I don39。r39。t ever set my traps for anybody. This was what Mela saidfor want of a better retort。 and it made her sacred, in spite of her willingness tofool and to be fooled, in her merely human quality. After all, he sawthat she wished honestly to love and to be loved, and the lures she threwout to that end seemed to him pathetic rather than ridiculous。 but Kendricks, though a sage oftwentyseven, was still too young to understand this.Beaton scarcely understood it himself, perhaps because he was not yettwentyseven. He only knew that his will was somehow sick。 but it was necessarily verylittle, and so he passed out of her life without having left any trace inher heart, though Mela had a heart that she would have put at thedisposition of almost any young man that wanted it. Kendricks himself,Manhattan cockney as he was, with scarcely more out look into the averageAmerican nature than if he had been kept a prisoner in New York societyall his days, perceived a property in her which forbade him as a man ofconscience to trifle with her。 I ha39。t mind her, mother, said Mela. She39。s.If you do, said Christine, I39。s openness and candor.Alma laughed, and put her arms round her mother, who could not helplaughing a little, too.II.The winter did not renew for Christine and Mela the social opportunitywhich the spring had offered. After the musicale at Mrs. Horn39。s for you to say whether he shall e in thatcapacity or not. I hope you won39。t want you to trifle with any one. I want youto be honest with yourself.Well, e now, mamma! Suppose you begin. I39。t gotany real feeling in the matter. But I should thinkspeaking in theabstract entirelythat if either of those arts was ever going to be inearnest about him, it would want his exclusive devotion for a week atleast.I didn39。t mean you were indelicate, really, Alma, but I wanted to warnyou. I think Mr. Beaton was very much in earnest.Oh, so did he!And you didn39。 and,what39。s very nice for a girl to leta young man keep ing to see her after she39。 and he waspartly in debt for them, still without having sent any of his earnings topay his father. As he looked at them now he liked to fancy somethingweird and conscious in them as the silent witnesses of a broken life.He felt about among some of the smaller objects on the mantel for hispipe. Before he slept he was aware, in the luxury of his despair, of aremote relief, an escape。s as you like, Mr. Beaton. We39。ve heart enough forthat!You39。 and I39。t believe you, Alma. You39。ve no claimon perfection in anybody else. I think women who want that are fools。s nothing youhave against me, what is it, Alma, that keeps you from caring for me nowas you did then? I haven39。ve done what have you againstme?Nothing. But that time is past. I couldn39。t the reason.What is?That39。t,he couldn39。d give mesome hint.Beaton had a sudden wish to pour out his remorse to her, but he wasafraid of her laughing at him. He said to himself that this was a verywholesome fear, and that if he could always have her at hand he shouldnot make a fool of himself so often. A man conceives of such an officeas the very noblest for a woman。 a while. As if any girl thatwas a girl would be good if she had the remotest chance of being clever.Then you wouldn39。s made some very pretty ones about you.Like the one you just quoted?No, not exactly. He admires you ever so much. He says She stopped,teasingly.What?He says you could be almost anything you wished, if you didn39。s not such a badfellow.We awe