t for
her. If she wanted a fine fellow--a fine, sharp, enterprising modern
man--I would have undertaken to find him for her without going out of
the city of New York. And if she wanted a big fortune, I would have
found her twenty that she would have had hard work to spend: money
down--not tied up in fever-stricken lands and worm-eaten villas! What is
the name of the young man? Prince Castaway, or some such thing!"

It was well for Mr. Leavenworth that he was a voluminous and
imperturbable talker; for the current of his eloquence floated him
past the short, sharp, startled cry with which Roderick greeted his
"conversational trifle." The young man stood looking at him with parted
lips and an excited eye.

"The position of woman," Mr. Leavenworth placidly resumed, "is certainly
a very degraded one in these countries. I doubt whether a European
princess can command the respect which in our country is exhibited
toward the obscurest females. The civilization of a country should
be measured by the deference shown to the weaker sex. Judged by that
standard, where are they, over here?"

Though Mr. Leavenworth had not observed Roderick's emotion, it was not
lost upon Rowland, who was making certain uncomfortable reflections upon
it. He saw that it had instantly become one with the acute irritation
produced by the poor gentleman's oppressive personality, and that
an explosion of some sort was imminent. Mr. Leavenworth, with calm
unconsciousness, proceeded to fire the mine.

"And now for our Culture!" he said in the same sonorous tones, demanding
with a gesture the unveiling of the figure, which stood somewhat apart,
muffled in a great sheet.

Roderick stood looking at him for a moment with concentrated rancor, and
then strode to the statue and twitched off the cover. Mr. Leavenworth
settled himself into his chair with an air of flattered proprietorship,
and scanned the unfinished image. "I can conscientiously express myself
as gratified with the general conception," he said. "The figure has
considerable majesty, and the countenance wears a fine, open expression.
The forehead, however, strikes me as not sufficiently intellectual. In
a statue of Culture, you know, that should be the great point. The eye
should instinctively seek the forehead. Could n't you heighten it up a
little?"

Roderick, for all answer, tossed the sheet back over the statue. "Oblige
me, sir," he said, "oblige me! Never mention that thing again."

"Neve