s she put a new feather
on her hat and a new kink in her hair, and expect a man to notice it as
quickly and be as astonished as he would if she had shaved her head or
lost a limb? Why does she seem offended if you don't make love to her,
and then get angry if you do? Why does she act kittenish when she's big
and dignified, when she's little and old, when she's young and silly,
when she's old? And why, oh, why, did you inveigle me into coming down
to this miserable pink-and-white house party with the hope of being
near you and then utterly ignore me and spend your time flirting with
Bobby Taylor, while I sulk about like a lost sheep or run errands----"

"For Miss Manners?" suggested the widow cuttingly.

"Miss Manners!" exclaimed the bachelor scornfully.

"You once thought her very beautiful, Mr. Travers."

"That's just it!" retorted the bachelor. "Why didn't you let me go on
thinking her beautiful----"

"'As delicate as a sea shell,' wasn't it?"

"Yes," snapped the bachelor, "and as--hollow!"

The widow smiled enigmatically.

"Tell me," she said sympathetically, "what she has done to you."

"Well, for one thing," complained the bachelor, "she coaxed me out on
the piazza last night in the moonlight, and then, when she had talked
sentiment for half an hour and lured me to a dark spot and simply goaded
me into taking her hand----"

The widow sat up straight.

"But you didn't do it, Billy Travers!"

"Of course I did. It seemed almost an insult not to. And what did she
do? She jerked it away, flung herself from me, rose like an outraged
queen, turned on me with that 'I-thought-you-were-a-gentleman' air and
said----"

The widow lay back in her chair and laughed.

"Oh, mercy!" she said, wiping the tears from her eyes when she was
able. "Excuse me but--but--how did she look when she did it?"

"Well," confessed the bachelor, "she did look rather stunning."

"That's why she did it," explained the widow between laughs. "A woman's
reason for doing most things is because she thinks she will look well
doing them."

"Or because she thinks you will look surprised if she does them."

"Or because she wants to attract your attention."

"Or to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Or to astonish you or amuse you or----"

"Work on your sensibilities, or get on your nerves, or play on your
sympathies. But," he went on growing wroth at the recollection, "the
idea of a little chit like that--and that isn't the worst. This m