unch and--and then have another fitting----"

"Is that what you'd do with your liberty?" he sneered. "Well, I don't
wonder old Tappan doesn't give you any money."

"I do need money and decent gowns. I'm sick of the frumpy
prunes-and-prisms frocks that Kathleen makes me wear----"

Kathleen's troubled laugh interrupted her:

"Dearest, I do the best I can on the allowance made you by Mr. Tappan.
His ideas on modern feminine apparel are perhaps not yours or mine."

"I should say not!" returned Geraldine angrily. "There isn't a girl of
my age who dresses as horridly as I do. I tell you, Mr. Tappan has got
to let me have money enough to dress decently. If he doesn't, I--I'll
begin to give him as much trouble as Scott does--more, too!"

She set her teeth and stared at her glass of water.

"What about my coming-out gown?" she asked.

"I have written him about your debut," said Kathleen soothingly.

"Oh! What did the old beast say?"

"He writes," began Kathleen pleasantly, "that he considers eighteen an
unsuitable age for a young girl to make her bow to New York society."

"Did he say that?" exclaimed Geraldine, furious. "Very well; I shall
write to Colonel Mallett and tell him I simply will not endure it any
longer. I've had enough education; I'm suffocated with it! Besides, I
dislike it. I want a dinner-gown and a ball-gown and my hair waved and
dressed on top of my head instead of bunched half way! I want to have an
engagement pad--I want to have places to go to--people expecting me; I
want silk stockings and pretty underclothes! Doesn't that old fool
understand what a girl wants and needs?"

She half rose from her seat at the table, pushing away the fruit which a
servant offered; and, laying her hands flat on the cloth, leaned
forward, eyes flashing ominously.

"I'm getting tired of this," she said. "If it goes on, I'll probably run
away."

"So will I," said Scott, "but I've good reasons. They haven't done
anything to you. You're making a terrible row about nothing."

"Yes, they have! They've suppressed me, stifled me, bottled me up,
tinkered at me, overgroomed me, dressed me ridiculously, and stuffed my
mind. And I'm starved all the time! O Kathleen, I'm hungry! hungry!
Can't you understand?

"They've made me into something I was not. I've never yet had a chance
to be myself. Why couldn't they let me be it? I know--I _know_ that when
at last they set me free because they have to--I--I'll act like a fool;