uce her into society; and so far as relates to
yourself, I should have told you these facts sooner if I had known the
state of your feelings; but so long as they were not expressed, it
would scarcely have been delicate for me to take them for granted."

"Very true," rejoined the disenchanted lover. "You certainly had a
right to choose a daughter for yourself; though I could hardly have
imagined that any amount of attraction would have overcome _such_
obstacles in the mind of a lady of your education and refined views of
life. Excuse my using the word 'counterfeit.' I was slightly disturbed
when it escaped me."

"It requires no apology," she replied. "I am aware that society would
take the same view of my proceeding that you do. As for my education,
I have learned to consider it as, in many respects, false. As for my
views, they have been greatly modified by this experience. I have
learned to estimate people and things according to their real value,
not according to any merely external accidents."

Mr. Green extended his hand, saying: "I will bid you farewell, Mrs.
Delano; for, under existing circumstances, it becomes necessary to
deny myself the pleasure of again calling upon you. I must seek to
divert my mind by new travels, I hardly know where. I have exhausted
Europe, having been there three times. I have often thought I should
like to look on the Oriental gardens and bright waters of Damascus.
Everything is so wretchedly new, and so disagreeably fast, in this
country! It must be refreshing to see a place that has known no
changes for three thousand years."

They clasped hands with mutual adieus; and the unfortunate son of
wealth, not knowing what to do in a country full of noble work, went
forth to seek a new sensation in the slow-moving caravans of the East.

A few days afterward, when Flora returned from taking a lesson in
oil-colors, she said: "How do you suppose I have offended Mr. Green?
When I met him just now, he touched his hat in a very formal way, and
passed on, though I was about to speak to him."

"Perhaps he was in a hurry," suggested Mrs. Delano.

"No, it wasn't that," rejoined Flora. "He did just so day before
yesterday, and he can't always be in a hurry. Besides, you know he is
never in a hurry; he is too much of a gentleman."

Her friend smiled as she answered, "You are getting to be quite a
judge of aristocratic manners, considering you were brought up in a
bird-cage."

The young girl wa