s, he still preserved his sense of differences, and his
appreciation of graces he had no time to cultivate. During the
preparations for the Brys' TABLEAUX he had been immensely struck by
Lily's plastic possibilities--"not the face: too self-controlled for
expression; but the rest of her--gad, what a model she'd make!"--and
though his abhorrence of the world in which he had seen her was too great
for him to think of seeking her there, he was fully alive to the
privilege of having her to look at and listen to while he lounged in
Mattie Gormer's dishevelled drawing-room.

Lily had thus formed, in the tumult of her surroundings, a little nucleus
of friendly relations which mitigated the crudeness of her course in
lingering with the Gormers after their return. Nor was she without pale
glimpses of her own world, especially since the breaking-up of the
Newport season had set the social current once more toward Long Island.
Kate Corby, whose tastes made her as promiscuous as Carry Fisher was
rendered by her necessities, occasionally descended on the Gormers,
where, after a first stare of surprise, she took Lily's presence almost
too much as a matter of course. Mrs. Fisher, too, appearing frequently in
the neighbourhood, drove over to impart her experiences and give Lily
what she called the latest report from the weather-bureau; and the
latter, who had never directly invited her confidence, could yet talk
with her more freely than with Gerty Farish, in whose presence it was
impossible even to admit the existence of much that Mrs. Fisher
conveniently took for granted.

Mrs. Fisher, moreover, had no embarrassing curiosity. She did not wish to
probe the inwardness of Lily's situation, but simply to view it from the
outside, and draw her conclusions accordingly; and these conclusions, at
the end of a confidential talk, she summed up to her friend in the
succinct remark: "You must marry as soon as you can."

Lily uttered a faint laugh--for once Mrs. Fisher lacked originality. "Do
you mean, like Gerty Farish, to recommend the unfailing panacea of 'a
good man's love'?"

"No--I don't think either of my candidates would answer to that
description," said Mrs. Fisher after a pause of reflection.

"Either? Are there actually two?"

"Well, perhaps I ought to say one and a half--for the moment."

Miss Bart received this with increasing amusement. "Other things being
equal, I think I should prefer a half-husband: who is he?"

"Don't