And now I go," said he, "to paint
the lily and adorn the rose. In short, to set forth in adequate and
remunerative language the wit, wisdom, virtue, beauty, and
ornateness of woman as she thinks men think she is. Nature,"
reflected The Author, smiling at The Suffragist, "made me a writer.
The devil, the editors, and the women have made me a best-seller."
And he departed, a cooky in each hand.

That night one of the Gatchell boys took Alicia to a dance. She was
in blue and white, like an angel, and the Gatchell boy trod on air.
But to me came Doctor Richard Geddes, and threw himself into a
wing-chair.

"Sophronisba Two," he asked, we being alone in the library, "what
have I done to offend Alicia?"

"Is Alicia offended?"

"Isn't she?" wondered the doctor. "She won't let me get near enough
to find out," he added gloomily. "And it isn't just. She ought to
know that--well, that I'd rather cut off my right hand than give her
real cause for offense. I'm going to ask you a straight, man
question; is that girl a--a flirt? She is not a--jilt?"

"Heaven forbid!"

"Does she care for anybody else?"

"On my honor, I don't know."

"It couldn't be any of these whipper-snappers of boys: she's not
that sort," worried the doctor. "Sophy, is it--Jelnik?"

My heart stood still. I could make no reply.

"I don't know. My dear friend, I don't know!"

"It would be the most natural thing in the world," he reflected.
"Jelnik looks like Prince Charming himself. And, for all his surface
indolence, there's genius in the man. Why shouldn't she be taken
with him?"

We looked at each other.

"I see," said the doctor, quietly. "Now, little friend, what
concerns you and me is our dear girl's happiness. Does Jelnik care,
do you think?"

"I don't know!" I said again. I felt like one on the rack. It seemed
to me I could hear my heart-strings stretching and snapping. "But
what is one girl's affection to a man born to be loved by women?"

"He is indifferent to women, for the most part," the doctor said
thoughtfully. "He is so free from vanity, and at the same time so
reserved, that one has difficulty in getting at his real feelings."

"She, also, is free from petty vanity," I told him. "She has an
innocent, happy pleasure in her own youth and prettiness, but hers
is the unspoiled heart of a child."

"Who should know it better than I, that am a great hulking,
bad-tempered fellow twice her age!" groaned the doctor. "Yet, Sophy,
_I_ coul