ble, perfectly consistent, perfectly
unimpulsive, and never expressed an opinion that was not countenanced
by at least two competent authorities. I don't know a man living,
prepared to dispute that Miss Haggage excelled Miss Hugonin in all
these desirable qualities.

Yet with pleasing unanimity they went mad for Margaret and had the
greatest possible respect for Adele.

And, my dear Mrs. Grundy, I grant you cheerfully that this was all
wrong. A sensible man, as you very justly observe, will seek in a
woman something more enduring than mere personal attractions; he will
value her for some sensible reason--say, for her wit, or her learning,
or her skill in cookery, or her proficiency in Greek. A sensible man
will look for a sensible woman; he will not concern his sensible head
over such trumperies as a pair of bright eyes, or a red lip or so, or
a satisfactory suit of hair. These are fleeting vanities.

However--

You have doubtless heard ere this, my dear madam, that had Cleopatra's
nose been an inch shorter the destiny of the world would have been
changed; had she been the woman you describe--perfectly reasonable,
perfectly consistent, perfectly sensible in all she said and
did--confess, dear lady, wouldn't Antony have taken to his heels and
have fled from such a monster?

XIV

I regret to admit that Mr. Woods did not toss feverishly about his bed
all through the silent watches of the night. He was very miserable,
but he was also twenty-six. That is an age when the blind bow-god
deals no fatal wounds. It is an age to suffer poignantly, if you will;
an age wherein to aspire to the dearest woman on earth, to write her
halting verses, to lose her, to affect the _cliches_ of cynicism, to
hear the chimes at midnight--and after it all, to sleep like a top.

So Billy slept. And kind Hypnos loosed a dream through the gates of
ivory that lifted him to a delectable land where Peggy was nineteen,
and had never heard of Kennaston, and was unbelievably sweet and dear
and beautiful. But presently they and the Colonel put forth to sea--on
a great carved writing-desk--fishing for sharks, which the Colonel
said were very plentiful in those waters; and Frederick R. Woods
climbed up out of the sea, and said Billy was a fool and must go to
college; and Peggy said that was impossible, as seventeen hundred and
fifty thousand children had to be given an education apiece, and they
couldn't spare one for Billy; and a missionary fro