you suppose I was grateful tonight for my
years--those years so crowded with training and experience? Who better
prepared than I to hold my own against a lot of raw Americans?"

"That is the first human thing you've said. Raw? Wasn't it Darwin who
said that we are all such a short distance, in time, removed from our
common savage ancestors that it is a wonder we don't revert oftener
than we do? They were plain unadulterated females. I believe men are
more civilized than women."

"Oh, no, but they revert on the grand scale. . . . I cannot say I was
totally unprepared--not for such a concerted and shocking exhibition,
of course; but I've felt their antagonism and expected to be dropped
gradually from their set. Of course, this is the end, definitely.
However," she shrugged her shoulders again, "I have enjoyed the New
York which seems to have changed in so many ways since my day, and all
dramas should have a proper 'curtain,' should they not? Is your own
play finished, by the way?"

"Oh!" He turned his back on her and leaned on the mantel-piece,
dropping his head on his arms. He had never felt as far away from her
when he had been unable to learn even her name. What need had she of
him or any man?

Mary gave him a quick comprehending glance, and came out of her
isolation. She went over to him, turned him around, and took his face
between her hands.

"Can't you imagine what it meant to me to have you there?" she asked
softly. "It seemed to me that nothing else mattered. We two are in a
world of our own. How could they seem more to me than the buzzing of
so many brainless insects? Forget it, and I shall."

But although he was consoled, he wondered, as he left the house, if he
would ever feel more depressed in his life. She might love him, but
what else could he ever be to her but a lover? His manhood rebelled.
If she had only flung herself weeping into his arms. If for once he
could have felt himself stronger than she--indispensable.

XXXIX

The dinner was on Monday. On Wednesday morning she met him at the Fort
Lee Ferry at seven o'clock for one of their rare tramps. She wore
high-laced boots of soft leather, a short skirt and jersey and a soft
hat; and if she had met any of her guests of that memorable dinner they
would have looked profoundly thoughtful, and renounced whatever hope of
having seared her to the bone they may have cherished. She strode
through the woods above the Palisade