ard by the
feet of grandchildren. Good Lord, my dear, what's the good of art,
what's the good of science? I would rather have watched you grow up than
have made the Winged Victory, or discovered the circulation of the
blood. Come now? Barbs, tell me, who's the young man?"

For the first time in her life she told him of the wild impulsiveness
and the shocking brevity of her affections for various members of his
sex; naming no names she explained to him with much self-abasement (and
a little amusement) that she was no good, "A nice wife I'd make!" she
concluded.

But her father only laughed. "The only abnormal thing about you," he
said, "is that you tell the truth. The average girl shows men more
attentions than men show her. I don't mean that she demonstrates her
attentions; but that she feels them in her heart. To be absolutely the
first in a woman's heart a man must catch her when she's about three
months old."

"But a girl," said Barbara, "who thinks she's sure and then finds she
isn't, hurts the people she's fondest of. In extreme eases she breaks
hearts and spoils lives."

[Illustration: "What is Wilmot doing with himself these days?" "He
went away," said Barbara, her eyes troubled.]

"Hearts," said her father, "that can be broken are very weak. Lives
that can be spoiled by disappointment and injured pride aren't worth
preserving. If you have nothing more serious on your conscience than
having, in all good faith, encouraged a few young men, found that you
were wrong, and sent them away with bees in their bonnets, I'm sure I
envy you."

Barbara simply shook her head.

"When you do find the right man, Barbara, you'll make up to him with
showers of blessings for whatever cold rains you've shed on others....
What is Wilmot doing with himself these days?"

"He went away," said Barbara, and she sat looking steadily across the
lake, her chin on her hand, her eyes troubled.

XXXV

In many ways the life which Barbara led at Clovelly was calculated to
rest her mind. She developed a passion for exercise, and when night came
was too full of tired good health to read or talk. Since the estate was
to be hers one day, she found the wish to know her way intimately about
it, and since there were three thousand acres, for the most part thick
forests spread over rocky hills, she could contemplate weeks of
delightful explorations. To discover ponds, brooks, and caves that
belong to other people has its delights, b