l ages have jealously housed and protected their
women from entangling sexual relations, while permitting the greatest
license to their predatory males. The reasons are obvious enough to the
mature intelligence, but difficult for the young to comprehend.

Adelle had not yet felt the need of a Bobby Trenow.

XVI

Some years ago Prince Ponitowski had built in Neuilly, near the gate of
the Bois, what contemporary novelists described as a "nest" for his
mistress--a famous Parisian lady. It was a fascinating little villa with
a demure brick and stone facade, a terrace, and a few shady trees in a
tiny, high-walled garden. The prince died, and the lady having made
other arrangements, the smart little villa came into the hands of Miss
Catherine Comstock, who took a long lease of the premises and
established there her family of "select" American girls. It might seem
that the tradition of the Villa Ponitowski (as the place continued to be
called) was hardly suitable for her purposes, but the robust common
sense of our age rarely hesitates over such intangible considerations,
and least of all the sophisticated Miss Comstock. At the Villa
Ponitowski the young women enjoyed the healthful freedom of a suburb
with the open fields of the Bois directly at their door, and yet were
within easy reach of Paris, "with its galleries and many cultural
opportunities"--according to the familiar phrasing of Miss Comstock's
letters to inquiring parents. (She had no circulars.)

Miss Catherine Comstock herself was, in the last analysis, from Toledo,
Ohio, of an excellent family that had its roots in the soil of
Muskingum. When her father died, there being no immediate prospect of
marriage, she had taken to teaching in a girls' private school. It was
not long before the routine of an American private school became irksome
to her venturous spirit, and she conceived the idea of touring Europe
with rich girls who had nothing else to do. From this developed the
Neuilly scheme, which provided for the needs of that increasing number
of Americans with daughters who for one reason or another do not live in
America, and also for those American girls who could afford to
experiment in the fine arts "carefully shielded from undesirable
associates"--another favorite Comstock phrase. At first the art and
education idea had been much to the fore, and Miss Comstock had
fortified herself with one or two teachers and hired other assistants
occasionally. B