ire she even seemed
childish--quite too unimportant a creature to have made such a
hullabaloo in this small world of ours.

Nevertheless I felt justified in keeping silence and even in listening
to their conversation.

"You didn't mean it," I heard Jerry ask, "about all those girls'
mothers, did you?"

She laughed.

"Of course I did. You're a catch, you know."

"You mean, they want to catch _me_? Nonsense. I don't believe you."

"It's true. You're too rich to escape."

"If that's the way marriage is made I don't think much of it."

"It isn't always like that." She smiled. "People aren't all as rich as
you are."

"It's queer," he said after a pause. "I've never thought of myself as
being different from other people. If money makes one man more
desirable than another then money sets false standards of judgment.
The people here I like for what they are, not for what they have.
That's all wrong somehow, Una. It makes me think crooked."

"I suppose I'm talking too much. You don't have to believe what I
say," she said slowly.

"But I want to know and I want you to talk. You've stirred something
deep in me. You somehow make me think I've been looking at everything
sideways without being able to walk around it. Roger knows what he's
about, of course, and I suppose he has reasons of his own, but I'm a
not a child any longer. And if he does not care to tell me the whole
truth, I've got to find out things for myself from somebody else."
And then, turning upon her suddenly: "You aren't lying to me, are
you?"

"Do you think I would?" she asked.

"No, I don't. But I thought you might say queer things, just as a
joke."

She shook her head. "No," she said calmly. "I laughed a little at
first, because I didn't understand, but I'm quite serious now."

"You said Roger was a fossil. I know what a fossil is. That wasn't
kind."

"But it's true," she repeated warmly. "He might keep things from you,
but he has no right to misrepresent women."

"_Are_ women as fine as men?" he asked.

She looked around at him.

"Why shouldn't they be? I think they're finer. Your Roger wouldn't
agree with me. I've told you the kind of things they do--that men
can't and won't do. You may believe me or not as you choose. Some day
you'll find out."

"But I want to find out now. I want to find out everything."

She smiled into the fire.

"That's a great deal, isn't it?" she said.

He went on soberly:

"You see, I don't want you to