isturb the folks
downstairs,' he said. So we danced the fox-trot and my hair brushed
against his cheek--he really dances very well for a poet.

"After he had gone I sat thinking of this for a long time, puzzled about
myself and about Kendall. This afternoon I saw him again as I was
passing through the Brevoort Cafe. He came up to me, smiling, and drew
me aside.

"'Don't you see what a little faker you are, Pen?' he laughed. 'It's
just as I said, you are none of you on the level, you pretty women. Why
did you set that victrola going last night and tempt me to--to--yes you
did, you know darn well you did. Why did you let your cheek brush
against mine? Come, be honest, if you can. You're laughing, you adorable
little devil--you expected me to kiss you.'

"'Impertinent!' I said. 'You do yourself too much honor, sir.'

"'I say you expected me to kiss you.'

"'No.'

"'Liar!' He wrinkled up his nose amusingly.

"I suppose I was a liar. I did expect Kendall Brown to--well--not to
kiss me necessarily, but to make it perfectly clear that he wanted to.
It was a ridiculous and unnecessary bit of posing on his part to act as
if he did not want to. The French have a saying that a pretty woman
always expects a suitor to know just _when_ to be lacking in respect."

HOW SHALL A WOMAN SATISFY HER HEART'S LONELINESS?

I quote from my diary without comment another significant conversation
that took place during the early months of my widowhood. How I resented,
at this time, any suggestion that I was inclined to venture too near the
sentimental danger line!

And yet....

"Tonight I had a long talk with Kendall Brown on the same old
subject--_what is a woman to do who longs for the companionship of a
man, but does not find it?_

"Kendall always says disconcerting things, he is brutally frank; but I
like to argue with him because I find him stimulating, and he does know
a lot about life.

"'The trouble with women like you, Pen,' he said, 'is that you are not
honest with yourselves. You pretend one thing and end by doing something
quite different; then you say that you never intended to do this thing.
Why can't you be consistent?'

"'Like men?'

"'Well, at least men know what they are going after, and when they have
done a certain thing, they don't waste time regretting it or insisting
that they meant to do something else.'

"'You think women are hypocrites?'

"'Yes.'

"'If women are hypocrites, if women are afraid t