a fortnight earlier where
there had been music in the drawing-room by a ballad-singer at a cost of
$100 (so Flossy had told her in confidence). A poetess reading from her
own works, a guest and not invited in after dinner on a business
footing, appealed to Selma as more American, and less expensive. She, in
her secret soul, would have liked to recite herself, but she feared to
run the gauntlet of the New York manner. The verses were intense in
character and were delivered by the young woman with a hollow-eyed
fervor which, as one of the non-literary wing of the company stated,
made one creep and weep alternately. There was no doubt that the
entertainment was novel and acceptable to the commercial element, and to
Selma it seemed a delightful reminder of the Benham Institute. She was
curious to know what Mr. Dennison thought, though she said to herself
that she did not really care. She felt that anything free and earnest in
the literary line was likely to be frowned on by the coterie to which
her husband's people belonged. Nevertheless she seized an opportunity to
ask the editor if he did not think the verses remarkable.

"They are certainly remarkable," answered Mr. Dennison. After a brief
pause he added, "Being a strictly truthful person, Mrs. Littleton, I do
not wish to seek shelter behind the rampart which your word 'remarkable'
affords. A dinner may be remarkable--remarkably good, like the one I
have just eaten, or remarkably bad. Some editors would have replied to
you as I have done, and yet been capable of a mental reservation
unflattering to the ambitious young woman to whom we have been
listening. But without wishing to express an opinion, let me remind you
that poetry, like point-lace, needs close scrutiny before its merits can
be defined. I thought I recognized some ancient and well-worn flowers of
speech, but my editorial ear and eye may have been deceived. She has
beautiful hair at all events."

"'Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare;
And beauty draws us by a single hair.'

"You cynical personage! I only hope she may prove a genius and that you
will realize when too late that you might have discovered her," said
Selma, looking into his face brightly with a knowing smile and tapping
her fan against her hand. She was in a gay humor at the success of the
entertainment, despite the non-committal attitude of this censor, and
pleased at the appositeness of her quotation. Her figure had filled out