ept herself in the pink of condition ("overkept herself" some said)
dancing, walking, running, swimming, playing all games and eating to
match. She had a beautiful, clean-cut face, not delicate and to be
hidden and coaxed by veils and soft things, but a face that looked
beautiful above a severe Eton collar, and at any distance. She had the
bright, wide eyes of a collected athlete, unbelievably blue, and the
whites of them were only matched for whiteness by her teeth (the deep
tan of her skin heightened this effect, perhaps); and it was said by one
admirer that if she were to be in a dark room and were to press the
button of a kodak and to smile at one and the same instant, there would
be a picture taken.

She had friends in almost every country-clubbed city in America.
Whenever, and almost wherever, a horse show was held she was there to
show the horses of some magnate or other to the best advantage. Between
times she won tennis tournaments and swimming matches, or tried her hand
at hunting or polo (these things in secret because her father had
forbidden them), and the people who continually pressed hospitality upon
her said that they were repaid a thousand-fold. In the first place, it
was a distinction to have her. "Who are the Ebers?" "Why, don't you
know? They are the people Miss Blythe is stopping with."

She was always good-natured; she never kept anybody waiting; and she
must have known five thousand people well enough to call them by their
first names. But what really distinguished her most from other young
women was that her success in inspiring others with admiration and
affection was not confined to men; she had the same effect upon all
women, old and young, and all children.

Foolish people said that she had no heart, merely because no one had as
yet touched it. Wise people said that when she did fall in love sparks
would fly. Hitherto her friendships with men, whatever the men in
question may have wished, had existed upon a basis of good-natured
banter and prowess in games. Men were absolutely necessary to Miss
Blythe to play games with, because women who could "give her a game"
were rare as ivory-billed woodpeckers. It was even thought by some, as
an instance, that little Miss Blythe could beat the famous Miss May
Sutton once out of three times at lawn-tennis. But Miss Sutton, with the
good-natured and indomitable aggression of her genius, set this
supposition at rest. Little Miss Blythe could not beat Mi