with untroubled ease. Her frankness, indeed, was the great thing; it had
an endless attraction for Evert Winthrop. His idea had been (and a very
fixed belief it had grown to be) that no girl was frank after the age of
long clothes; that the pretty little creatures, while still toddling
about, developed the instinct to be "good" rather than outspoken; and
that the "better" they were, the more obedient and docile, the less
outspoken they became. He could not say that he did not admire
obedience. But the flower of frankness had come to seem to him the most
fragrant of the whole bouquet of feminine virtues, as it certainly was
the rarest. He had told Mrs. Thorne that he liked to see Garda show her
preference for Spenser, and this had been true, to a certain extent; he
knew that he had felt a distinct pleasure in the swiftness with which
she had turned from him to the younger man as soon as she found that the
younger man pleased her more. For it showed that she was not touched by
the attractions of a large fortune, that they were not attractions to
her; and Winthrop held (he knew that many persons would not agree with
him) that young girls are more apt to be influenced by wealth, more apt
to be dazzled by it, to covet it, than older women are. The older women
know that it does not bring happiness in its train, that it may bring
great unhappiness; the young girls do not know, and, from their very
ignorance, they do not care, because they have not learned as yet what a
cruel, torturing pain unhappiness may be. Garda Thorne was poor, and
even very poor; she had a strong natural taste for luxury. Yet her
passing amusement was evidently far more to her than anything else; she
simply did not give a thought to the fortune that lay near. And even her
amusement was founded upon nothing stable; Lucian, though she considered
him so delightful, was by no means devoted to her. He openly admired her
beauty (Winthrop thought too openly), he preferred her society to that
of any one in Gracias; but all could see that Gracias was probably the
limit, that in other and larger places he would find others to admire;
that he was, in short, a votary of variety. In spite of this, Garda
found him supremely entertaining, and that was enough for her; she
followed him about, always, however, in her indolent way, in which there
was no trace of eagerness. But if she were not eager, she seemed to
consider him her own property; she always wished to be near hi