diff --git a/Lossless file compression engine/LICENSE b/Lossless file compression engine/LICENSE deleted file mode 100644 index 9cecc1d4..00000000 --- a/Lossless file compression engine/LICENSE +++ /dev/null @@ -1,674 +0,0 @@ - GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE - Version 3, 29 June 2007 - - Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. - Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies - of this license document, but changing it is not allowed. - - Preamble - - The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for -software and other kinds of works. - - The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed -to take away your freedom to share and change the works. By contrast, -the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to -share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it remains free -software for all its users. 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If not, see . - -Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail. - - If the program does terminal interaction, make it output a short -notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode: - - {project} Copyright (C) {year} {fullname} - This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'. - This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it - under certain conditions; type `show c' for details. - -The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate -parts of the General Public License. Of course, your program's commands -might be different; for a GUI interface, you would use an "about box". - - You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or school, -if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if necessary. -For more information on this, and how to apply and follow the GNU GPL, see -. - - The GNU General Public License does not permit incorporating your program -into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you -may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with -the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General -Public License instead of this License. But first, please read -. diff --git a/Lossless file compression engine/README.md b/Lossless file compression engine/README.md deleted file mode 100644 index 85140784..00000000 --- a/Lossless file compression engine/README.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,16 +0,0 @@ -# Lossless-Compression-Engine - -Compression Engine uses Huffman Compression Algorithm to losslessly compress text files - -This program is currently compressing a file that is named "foo.txt" which is a book downloaded from the website Projet Gutenberg - https://www.gutenberg.org/ - -This program compressed the original file by 43% from 175 KB to 78 KB - - -# Code can be run via Python 3 - https://www.python.org/downloads/ - -``` -pip install bitstring - -pip install huffman -``` diff --git a/Lossless file compression engine/compressor.py b/Lossless file compression engine/compressor.py deleted file mode 100644 index e32fd03e..00000000 --- a/Lossless file compression engine/compressor.py +++ /dev/null @@ -1,84 +0,0 @@ -# coding=utf-8 -import huffman -import bitstring -from bitstring import BitArray - -myfile = open("foo.txt","r") -allofthefile = myfile.read() -myfile.close() - -mycharset = u"\u000A" -mycharset = mycharset + " abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"+\ - "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"+\ - "0123456789!#$%&'()\"*+,-./:;<=>?@[\]^_`{|}~"+\ - "àæçèéêôëü" -countset = [0 for i in range (0,len(mycharset))] - -for i in range (0,len(allofthefile)): - singlechar = allofthefile[i] - for j in range (0,len(mycharset)): - if mycharset[j] == singlechar: - countset[j] = countset[j]+1 # count the apperance of the charecters - break - -totalcount = 0 -for i in range (0,len(countset)): - totalcount = totalcount + countset[i] # count how many charecters text contains - -probabilityset = [0 for i in range (0,len(mycharset))] - -for i in range (0,len(countset)): - probabilityset[i] = countset[i]/totalcount # calculate appearance probability of the charecters - -mydict = {} - -for i in range (0, len(mycharset)): - if countset[i] != 0: # precaution to dont create a Huffman code for zero elements - mydict[str(mycharset[i])] = probabilityset[i] -mycodebook = huffman.codebook(mydict.items()) - - -for i in range (0,len(mycharset)): - if countset[i] != 0: # suppress the zero appearance charecters - print(mycharset[i] , " has " , '{0:04d}'.format(countset[i]) , " times appeared. "+\ - "Probability = " , '{:.10f}'.format(probabilityset[i]) + " Huffman: " + mycodebook[str(mycharset[i])]) # just a print out operation - -onesandzeros = "" -for i in range (0, len(allofthefile)): - onesandzeros = onesandzeros + mycodebook[str(allofthefile[i])] - -binary_file = open('compressed_foo.bin', 'wb') - -i = 0 -while (i < len(onesandzeros)): - b = BitArray(bin=onesandzeros[i:i+8]) # divide array with 8 many bits and make them into a byte - b.tofile(binary_file) - i = i+8 - -binary_file.close() - -binary_file = open('compressed_foo.bin', "rb") -allofthebinaryfile = binary_file.read() -binary_file.close() - -newonesandzeros = "" - -for i in range (0, len(allofthebinaryfile)): - newonesandzeros = newonesandzeros + str(bin(allofthebinaryfile[i])[2:].zfill(8)) # tranform bytes into bit array - -mynewfile = "" -i=0 -while (i < len(newonesandzeros)): - for j in range (0, len(list(mycodebook.values()))): - check = list(mycodebook.values())[j] - if (newonesandzeros[i:i+len(check)] == check): # check the Binary Huffman sequence in the bit array - mynewfile = mynewfile + list(mycodebook.keys())[j] # if the sequence is found, transform it into the character and add it to the character array - i = i + len(check) - break - -mynewfile = mynewfile[:-1] - -newfile = open("foonew.txt","w") -newfile.write(mynewfile) -newfile.close() - diff --git a/Lossless file compression engine/foo.txt b/Lossless file compression engine/foo.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 17242f8d..00000000 --- a/Lossless file compression engine/foo.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3337 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Social Secretary, by David Graham Phillips - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Social Secretary - -Author: David Graham Phillips - -Illustrator: Clarence F. Underwood - Ralph Fletcher Seymour - -Release Date: October 9, 2017 [EBook #55719] - -Language: English - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOCIAL SECRETARY *** - - - - -Produced by David E. Brown and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - -The Social Secretary - -[Illustration] - - - - - THE SOCIAL - SECRETARY - - _by_ - - DAVID GRAHAM PHILLIPS - Author of The Plum Tree - The Cost etc. etc. - - - WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY - CLARENCE F. UNDERWOOD - - Decorations by - Ralph Fletcher Seymour - - - [Illustration] - - - New York - Grosset & Dunlap - Publishers - - - COPYRIGHT 1905 - THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY - - OCTOBER - - - - -The Social Secretary - - - - -The Social Secretary - - - - -I - - -November 29. At half-past one to-day--half-past one exactly--I began my -"career." - -Mrs. Carteret said she would call for me at five minutes to one. But -it was ten minutes after when she appeared, away down at the corner of -I Street. Jim was walking up and down the drawing-room; I was at the -window, watching that corner of I Street. "There she blows!" I cried, -my voice brave, but my heart like a big lump of something soggy and -sad. - -Jim hurried up and stood behind me, staring glumly over my shoulder. He -has proposed to me in so many words more than twenty times in the last -three years, and has looked it every time we've met--we meet almost -every day. I could feel that he was getting ready to propose again, but -I hadn't the slightest fear that he'd touch me. He's in the army, and -his "pull" has kept him snug and safe at Washington and has promoted -him steadily until now he's a Colonel at thirty-five. But he was -brought up in a formal, old-fashioned way, and he'd think it a deadly -insult to a woman he respected enough to ask her to be his wife if he -should touch her without her permission. I admire Jim's self-restraint, -but--I couldn't bear being married to a man who worshiped me, even if -I only liked him. If I loved him, I'd be utterly miserable. I've been -trying hard to love Jim for the past four months, or ever since I've -really realized how desperate my affairs are. But I can't. And the most -exasperating part of my obstinacy is that I can't find a good reason or -excuse for it. - -As I was saying--or, rather, writing--Jim stood behind me and said in a -husky sort of voice: "You ain't goin' to do it, are you, Gus?" - -I didn't answer. If I had said anything, it would have been a feeble, -miserable "No"--which would have meant that I was accepting the -alternative--him. All my courage had gone and I felt contemptibly -feminine and dependent. - -I looked at him--I did like the expression of his eyes and the strength -and manliness of him from head to foot. What a fine sort of man a -"pull" and a private income have spoiled in Jim Lafollette! He went on: -"Surely, I'm not more repellent to you than--than what that auto is -coming to take you away to." - -"Shame on you, Jim Lafollette!" I said angrily--most of the anger so -that he wouldn't understand and take advantage of the tears in my eyes -and voice. "But how like you! How _brave_!" - -He reddened at that--partly because he felt guilty toward me, partly -because he is ashamed of the laziness that has made him shirk for -thirteen years. "I don't care a hang whether it's brave or not, or -_what_ it is," he said sullenly. "I want _you_. And it seems to me I've -got to do something--use force, if necessary--to keep you from--_from -that_. You ain't fit for it, Gus--not in any way. Why, it's worse than -being a servant. And you--brought up as you've been--" - -I laughed--a pretty successful effort. "I've been educating for it all -my life, without knowing it. And it's honest and independent. If you -had the right sort of ideas of self-respect, you'd be ashamed of me if -you thought I'd be low enough to marry a man I couldn't give my heart -to--for a living." - -"Don't talk rubbish," he retorted. "Thousands of women do it. Besides, -if I don't mind, why should you? God knows you've made it plain enough -that you don't love me. Gus, why can't you marry me and let me save you -from this just as a brother might save a sister?" - -"Because I may love somebody some day, Jim," said I. I wanted to hurt -him--for his own sake, and also because I didn't want him to tempt me. - -The auto was at the curb. He didn't move until I was almost at the -drawing-room door. Then he rushed at me and his look frightened me a -little. He caught me by the arm. "It's the last chance, Augusta!" he -exclaimed. "Won't you?" - -I drew away and hurried out. "Then you don't intend to have anything -to do with me after I've crossed the line and become a toiler?" I -called back over my shoulder. I couldn't resist the temptation to be -thoroughly feminine and leave the matter open by putting him in the -wrong with my "woman's last word." I was so low in my mind that I -reasoned that my adventure might be as appalling as I feared, in which -case it would be well to have an alternative. I wonder if the awful -thoughts we sometimes have are our real selves or if they just give us -the chance to measure the gap between what we might be as shown by them -and what we are as shown by our acts. I hope the latter, for surely I -can't be as poor a creature as I so often have impulses to make myself. - -Mrs. Carteret was waiting for the servant to open the door. I hurried -her back toward the auto, being a little afraid that Jim would be -desperate enough to come out and beg her to help him--and I knew she -would do it if she were asked. In the first place, Jessie always does -what she's asked to do--if it helps her to spend time and breath. In -the second place, she'd never let up on me if she thought I had so good -a chance to marry. For she knows that Washington is the hardest place -in the world for a woman to find a husband unless she's got something -that appeals to the ambition of men. Besides, she thinks, as do many of -my friends, that I am indifferent to men and discourage them. As if any -woman was indifferent to men! The only point is that women's ideas of -what constitutes a man differ, and my six years in this cosmopolis have -made me somewhat discriminating. - -But to return to Jessie, she was full of apologies for being late. -"I've thought of nothing but you, dear, for two days and nights. And I -thought that for once in my life I'd be on time. Yet here I am, fifteen -minutes late, unless that clock's wrong." She was looking at the -beautiful little clock set in the dashboard of the auto. - -"Only fifteen minutes!" I said. "And you never before were known to -be less than half an hour late. You even kept the President waiting -twenty minutes." - -"Isn't it stupid, this fussing about being on time?" she replied. "I -don't believe any but dull people and those who want to get something -from one are ever on time. For those who really live, life is so full -that punctuality is impossible. But I should have been on time, if I -hadn't been down seeing the Secretary of War about Willie Catesby--poor -Willie! He has been _so_ handicapped by nature!" - -"Did you get it for him?" I asked. - -"I think so--third secretary at St. Petersburg. The secretary said: -'But Willie is almost an imbecile, Mrs. Carteret. If we don't send -him abroad, his family'll have to put him away.' And I said: 'That's -true, Mr. Secretary. But if we don't send that sort of people to -foreign courts, how are we to repay the insults they send us in the -form of imbecile attachés?' And then I handed him six letters from -senators--every one of them a man whose vote he needs for his fight -on that nomination. They were _real_ letters. So presently he said, -'Very well, Mrs. Carteret, I'll do what I can to resent the Czar's last -insult by exporting Willie to him." - -I waited a moment, then burst out with what I was full of. "You think -she'll take me?" I said. - -Jessie reproached me with tragedy in her always intensely serious gray -eyes. "Take _you_?" she exclaimed. "Take a Talltowers when there's a -chance to get one? Why, as soon as I explained who you were, she fairly -quivered with eagerness." - -"You had to _explain_ who a Talltowers is?" I said with mock -amazement. It's delightful to poke fun at Jessie; she always -appreciates a jest by taking it more seriously than an ordinary -statement of fact. - -"But, dear, you mustn't be offended. You know Mrs. Burke is very common -and ignorant. She doesn't know the first thing about the world. She -said to me the other day that she had often heard there were such -things as class distinctions, but had never believed it until she came -to Washington--she had thought it was like the fairy stories. She never -was farther east than Chicago until this fall. She went there to the -Fair. You must get her to tell you how she and three other women who -belong to the same Chautauqua Circle went on together and slept in the -same room and walked from dawn till dark every day, catalogue in hand, -for eleven days. It's too pathetic. She said, 'My! but my feet were -sore. I thought I was a cripple for life.'" - -"That sounds nice and friendly," said I, suspicious that Jessie's -quaint sense of humor had not permitted her to appreciate Mrs. Burke. -"I'm so dreadfully afraid I'll fall into the clutches of people that'll -try to--to humiliate me." - -Tears sprang to Jessie's eyes. "Please don't, Gus!" she pleaded. -"They'll be only too deferential. And you must keep them so. I suspect -that Mrs. Burke chums with her servants." - -We were stopping before the house--the big, splendid Ralston Castle, -as they call it; one of the very finest of the houses that have been -building since rich men began to buy into the Senate and Cabinet -and aspire for diplomatic places, and so have attracted other rich -families to Washington. What a changed Washington it is, and what a -fight the old simplicity is making against the new ostentation! The -sight of the Ralston Castle in my present circumstances depressed me -horribly. I went to my second ball there, and it was given for me by -Mrs. Ralston. And only a little more than a year ago I danced in the -quadrille of honor with the French Ambassador--and the next week the -Ralstons went smash and hurried abroad to hide, all except the old man -who is hanging round Wall Street, they say, trying to get on his feet -with the aid of his friends. Friends! How that word must burn into -him every time he thinks of it. When he got into a tight place his -"friends" took advantage of their knowledge of his affairs to grab his -best securities, they say. No doubt he was disagreeable in a way, but -still those who turned on him the most savagely had been intimate with -him and had accepted his hospitality. - -"You'll be mistress here," Jessie was saying. She had put on her -prophetic look and pose--she really believes she has second sight at -certain times. "And you'll marry the son, if you manage it right. I -counted him in when I was going over the advantages and disadvantages -of the place before proposing it to you. He looks like a mild, nice -young man--though I must say I don't fancy cowlicks right in the part -of the hair. I saw only his picture." - -A tall footman with an insolent face opened the door and ushered -us into the small drawing-room to the left: "Mrs. Carteret! Miss -Talltowers!" he shouted--far louder than is customary or courteous. I -saw the impudent grin in his eyes--no proper man-servant ever permits -any one to see his eyes. And he almost dropped the curtain in our -faces, in such haste was he to get back to his lounging-place below -stairs. - -His roar had lifted to her feet an elderly woman with her hair so -badly dyed that it made her features look haggard and harsh and even -dissipated. She made a nervous bow. She was of the figure called stout -by the charitable and sumptuous by the crude. She was richly-dressed, -over-dressed, dressed-up--shiny figured satin with a great deal of -beads and lace that added to her width and subtracted from her height. -She stood miserable, jammed and crammed into a tight corset. Her -hands--very nice hands, I noticed--were folded upon her stomach. As -soon as I got used to that revolting hair-dye, I saw that she had in -fact a large-featured, sweet face with fine brown eyes. Even with the -dye she was the kind of looking woman that it sounds perfectly natural -to hear her husband call "mother." - -Jessie went up to her as she stood wretched in her pitiful attempt at -youth and her grandeur of clothes and surroundings. Mrs. Burke looked -down kindly, with a sudden quizzical smile that reminded me of my -suspicions as to the Chicago Fair story. Jessie was looking up like a -plump, pretty, tame robin, head on one side. "_Dear_ Mrs. Burke," she -said. "This is Miss Talltowers, and I'm sure you'll love each other." - -Mrs. Burke looked at me--I thought, with a determined attempt to be -suspicious and cautious. I'm afraid Jessie's reputation for tireless -effort to do something for everybody has finally "queered" her -recommendations. However, whatever warning Mrs. Burke had received went -for nothing. She was no match for Jessie--Jessie from whom his Majesty -at the White House hides when he knows she's coming for an impossible -favor--she was no match for Jessie and she knew it. She wiped the sweat -from her face and stammered: "I hope we'll suit each other, Miss--" In -her embarrassment she had forgotten my name. - -"Talltowers," whispered Jessie with a side-splitting look of tragic -apology to me. Just then the clock in the corner struck out the -half-hour from its cathedral bell--the sound echoed and reëchoed -through me, for it marked the beginning of my "career." Jessie went on -more loudly: "And now that our _business_ is settled, can't we have -some lunch, Mrs. Burke? I'm starved." - -Mrs. Burke brightened. "The Senator won't be here to-day," she drawled, -in a tone which always suggests to me that, after all, life is a -smooth, leisurely matter with plenty of time for everything except -work. "As he was leaving for the Capitol this morning, he says to me, -says he: 'You women had better fight it out alone.'" - -"The _dear_ Senator!" said Jessie. "He's _so_ clever?" - -"Yes, he _is_ mighty clever with those he likes," replied Mrs. -Burke--Jessie looking at me to make sure I would note Mrs. Burke's -"provincial" way of using the word clever. - -Jessie saved the luncheon--or, at least, thought she was saving it. -Mrs. Burke and I had only to listen and eat. I caught her looking at -me several times, and then I saw shrewdness in her eyes--good-natured, -but none the less penetrating for that. And I knew I should like her, -and should get on with her. At last our eyes met and we both smiled. -After that she somehow seemed less crowded and foreign in her tight, -fine clothes. I saw she was impatient for Jessie to go the moment -luncheon was over, but it was nearly three o'clock before we were left -alone together. There fell an embarrassed silence--for both of us were -painfully conscious that nothing had really been settled. - -"When do you wish me to come--if you do wish it at all?" I asked, by -way of making a beginning. - -"When do you think you could come?" she inquired nervously. - -"Then you do wish to give me a trial? I hope you won't feel that Mrs. -Carteret's precipitate way binds you." - -She gave me a shrewd, good-natured look. "I want you to come," she -said. "I wanted it from what I'd heard of you--I and Mr. Burke. I want -it more than ever, now that I've seen you. When can you come?" - -"To-morrow--to-morrow morning?" - -"Come as early as you like. The salary is--is satisfactory?" - -"Mrs. Carteret said--but I'm sure--you can judge better--whatever--" I -stuttered, red as fire. - -Mrs. Burke laughed. "I can see you ain't a great hand at business. The -salary is two thousand a year, with a three months' vacation in the -time we're not at Washington. Always have a plain understanding in -money matters--it saves a lot of mean feelings and quarrels." - -"Very well--whatever you think. I don't believe I'm worth much of -anything until I've had a chance to show what I can do." - -"Well, Tom--Mr. Burke--said two thousand would be about right at the -set-off," she drawled in her calming tone. "So we'll consider that -settled." - -"Yes," I gasped, with a big sigh of relief. "I suppose you wish me to -take charge of your social matters--relieve you of the burdensome part -of entertaining?" - -"I just wish you could," she said, with a great deal of humor in her -slow voice. "But I've got to keep that--it's the trying to make people -have a good time and not look and act as if they were wondering why -they'd come." - -"That'll soon wear off," said I. "Most of the stiffness is strangeness -on both sides, don't you think?" - -"I don't know. As nearly as I can make out, they never had a real, -natural good time in their lives. They wear the Sunday, go-to-meeting -clothes and manners the whole seven days. I'll never get used to it. -I can't talk that kind of talk. And if I was just plain and natural, -they'd think I was stark crazy." - -"Did you ever try?" - -She lifted her hands in mock-horror. "Mercy, no! Tom--Mr. Burke--warned -me." - -I laughed. "Men don't know much about that sort of thing," said I. "A -woman might as well let a man tell her how to dress as how to act." - -She colored. "He does," she said, her eyes twinkling. "He was here -two winters--this is my first. I've a kind of feeling that he really -don't know, but he's positive and--I've had nobody else to talk about -it with. I'm a stranger here--not a friend except people who--well, I -can guess pretty close to what they say behind my back." She laughed--a -great shaking of as much of her as was not held rigid by that tight -corset. "Not that I care--I like a joke myself, and I'm a good deal of -a joke among these grand folks. Only, I do want to help Tom, and not be -a drag." She gave me a sudden, sharp look. "I don't know why I trust -you, I'm sure." - -"Because I'm your confidential adviser," said I, "and it's always well -to keep nothing from a confidential adviser." The longer I looked and -listened, the larger possibilities I saw in her. My enthusiasm was -rising. - -She rose and came to me and kissed me. There were tears in her eyes. -"I've been _so_ lonesome," she said. "Even Tom don't seem natural any -more, away off here in the East. Sometimes I get so homesick that I -just can't eat or anything." - -"We're going to have a lot of fun," said I encouragingly--as if she -were twenty-four and I fifty, instead of it being the other way. -"You'll soon learn the ropes." - -"I'm so glad you use slang," she drawled, back in her chair and -comfortably settled. "My, but Tom'll be scandalized. He's made -inquiries about you and has made up his mind that whatever you say is -right. And I almost believed he knew the trails. I might 'a' known! -He's a man, you see, and always was stiff with the ladies. You ought -to 'a' seen the letter he wrote proposing to me. You see, I'm kind of -fat and always was. Mother used to tease me because I hadn't any beaux -except Tom, who wouldn't come to the point. She said: 'Lizzie, you'll -never have a man make real love to you.' And she was right. When Tom -proposed he wrote very formal-like--not a sentimental word. And when -we were married and got better acquainted, I teased him about it, and -tried to get him to make love, real book kind of love. But not a word! -But he's fond of me--we always have got on fine, and his being no good -at love-talk is just one of our jokes." - -It was fine to hear her drawl it out--I knew that she was sure to make -a hit, if only I could get her under way, could convince her that it's -nice to be natural if you're naturally nice. - -"Tom" came in from the Senate and I soon saw that, though she was a -"really" lady, of the only kind that is real--the kind that's born -right, he was a made gentleman, and not a very successful job. He was -small and thin and dressed with the same absurd stiff care with which -he had made her dress. He had a pointed reddish beard and reddish -curls, and he used a kind of scent that smelt cheap though it probably -wasn't. He was very precise and distant with me--how "Lizzie's" eyes -did twinkle as she watched him. I saw that she was "on to" Tom with the -quickness with which a shrewd woman always finds out, once she gets the -clue. - -"Have you had Miss Talltowers shown her rooms, Mrs. Burke?" he soon -inquired. - -"Why, no, pa," replied Mrs. Burke. "I forgot it clear." As she said -"pa" he winced and her eyes danced with fun. She went on to me: "You -don't mind our calling each other pa and ma before you, do you, Miss -Talltowers? We're so used to doing it that, if you minded it and we had -to stop, we'd feel as if we had company in the house all the time." - -I didn't dare answer, I was so full of laughter. For "pa" looked as if -he were about to sink through the floor. She led me up to my rooms--a -beautiful suite on the third floor. "We took the house furnished," she -explained as we went, "and I feel as if I was living in a hotel--except -that the servants ain't nearly so nice. I do hope you'll help me with -them. Tom wanted me to take a housekeeper, but those that applied were -such grand ladies that I'd rather 'a' done all my own work than 'a' -had any one of them about. Perhaps we could get one now, and you could -kind of keep her in check." - -"I think it'd be better to have some one," I replied. "I've had -some experience in managing a house." I couldn't help saying it -unsteadily--not because I miss our house; no, I'm sure it wasn't that. -But I suddenly saw the old library and my father looking up from -his book to smile lovingly at me as I struggled with the household -accounts. Anyhow, deep down I'm glad he did know so little about -business and so much about everything that's fine. I'd rather have my -memories of him than any money he could have left me by being less of a -father and friend and more of a "practical" man. - -Mrs. Burke looked at me sympathetically--I could see that she longed -to say something about my changed fortunes, but refrained through fear -of not saying the right thing. I must teach her never to be afraid of -that--a born lady with a good heart could never be really tactless. -She went to the front door with me, opening it for me herself to -the contemptuous amusement of the tall footman. We shook hands and -kissed--I usually can't bear to have a woman kiss me, but I'd have felt -badly if "ma" Burke hadn't done it. - -When I got back to Rachel's and burst into the drawing-room with a -radiant face, I heard a grunt like a groan. It was from Jim in the -twilight near Rachel at the tea-table. "I'm going out to service -to-morrow," said I to Rachel. "So you're to be rid of your visitor at -last." - -"Oh, Gus!" exclaimed Rachel between anger and tears. And Jim looked -black and sullen. But I was happy--and am to-night. Happy for the -first time in two years. I'm going to _do_ something--and it is -something that interests me. I'm going to launch a fine stately ship, a -full-rigged four-master in this big-little sea of Washington society. -What a sensation I can make with it among the pretty holiday boats! - - - - -II - - -December 6. Last Monday morning young Mr. Burke--Cyrus, the son and -heir--arrived, just from Germany. The first glimpse I had of him was as -he entered the house between his father and his mother, who had gone to -the station to meet him. I got myself out of the way and didn't come -down until "ma" Burke sent for me. I liked the way she was sitting -there beaming--but then, I like almost everything she does; she's such -a large, natural person. She never stands, except on her way to sit -just as soon as ever she can. "I never was a great hand for using my -feet," she said to me on my second day, "and I don't know but about -as much seems to 'a' come to find me as most people catch up with by -running their legs off." I liked the way her son was hovering about -her. And I liked the way "pa" Burke hovered round them both, nervous -and pulling at his whiskers and trying to think of things to say--if he -only wouldn't use brilliantine, or whatever it is, on his whiskers! - -"Cyrus, this is my friend, Miss Talltowers," said Mrs. Burke. I smiled -and he clapped his heels together with a click and doubled up as if he -had a sudden pain in his middle, just like all the northern Continental -diplomats. When he straightened back to the normal I took a good look -at him--and he at me. I don't know--or, rather, didn't then know--what -_he_ thought. But I thought him--well, "common." He has a great big -body that's strong and well-proportioned; but his features are so -insignificant--a small mouth, a small nose, small ears, eyes, forehead, -small head. And there, in the very worst place--just where the part -ought to be--was the cowlick I'd noticed in his photograph. When he -began to speak I liked him still less. He's been at Berlin three years, -but still has his Harvard accent. I wonder why they teach men at -Harvard to use their lips in making words as a Miss Nancy sort of man -uses his fingers in doing fancy work? - -Neither of us said anything memorable, and presently he went away to -his room, his mother going up with him. His father followed to the -foot of the stairs, then drifted away to his study where he could lie -in wait for Cyrus on his way down. Pretty soon his mother came into the -"office" they've given me--it's just off the drawing-room so that I can -be summoned to it the instant any one comes to see Mrs. Burke. - -[Illustration: CLARENCE F. UNDERWOOD] - -"I've let his pa have him for a while," she explained, as she came in. -I saw that she was full of her boy, so I turned away from my books. -She rambled on about him for an hour, not knowing what she was saying, -but just pouring out whatever came into her head. "His pa has always -said I'd spoil him," was one of the things I remember, "but I don't -think love ever spoiled anybody." Also she told me that his real -name wasn't Cyrus but Bucyrus, the town his father originally came -from--it's somewhere in Ohio, I think she said. "And," said she, -"whenever I want to cut his comb I just give him his name. He tames -right down." Also that he has used all sorts of things on the cowlick -without success. "There it is, still," said she, "as cross-grained as -ever. I like it about the best of anything, except maybe his long legs. -I'm a duck-leg myself, and his pa--well, _his_ legs 'just about reach -the ground,' as Lincoln said, and after that the less said the sooner -forgot. But Cyrus has _legs_. And his cowlick matches a cowlick in his -disposition--a kind of gnarly knot that you can't cut nor saw through -nor get round no way. It's been the saving of him, he's so good-natured -and easy otherwise." And she went on to tell how generous he is, "the -only generous small-eared person I've ever known, though I must say -I have my doubts about ears as a sign. There was Bill Slayback in our -town, with ears like a jack-rabbit, and whenever he had a poor man do a -job of work about his place he used to pay him with a ninety-day note -and then shave the note." - -I was glad when she hurried away at the sound of Cyrus in the hall. -For a huge lot of work there'll be for me to do until I get things in -some sort of order. I've opened a regular set of books to keep the -social accounts in. Of course, nobody who goes in for society, on the -scale we're going into it, could get along without social bookkeeping -as big as a bank's. I pity the official women in the high places who -can't afford secretaries; they must spend hours every night posting and -fussing with their account-books when they ought to be in bed asleep. - -On my second day here "pa" Burke explained what his plans were. "We -wish to make our house," said he, "the most distinguished social center -in Washington, next to the White House--and very democratic. Above all, -Miss Talltowers, democratic." - -"He don't mean that he wants us to do our own work and send out the -wash," drawled "ma" Burke, who was sitting by. "But democratic, with -fourteen servants in livery." - -"I understand," said I. "You wish simplicity, and people to feel at -ease, Mr. Burke." - -"Exactly," he replied in a dubious tone. "But I wish to maintain -the--the dignities, as it were." - -I saw he was afraid I might get the idea he wanted something like those -rough-and-tumble public maulings of the President that they have -at the White House. I hastened to reassure him; then I explained my -plan. I had drawn up a system somewhat like those the President's wife -and the Cabinet women and the other big entertainers have. I'm glad -the Burkes haven't any daughters. If they had I'd certainly need an -assistant. As it is, I'm afraid I'll worry myself hollow-eyed over my -books. - -First, there's the Ledger--a real, big, thick office ledger with almost -four hundred accounts in it, each one indexed. Of course, there aren't -any entries as yet. But there soon will be--what we owe various people -in the way of entertainment, what they've paid, and what they owe us. - -Second, there's my Day-Book. It contains each day's engagements so that -I can find out at a glance just what we've got to do, and can make out -each night before going to bed or early each morning the schedule for -Mrs. Burke for the day, and for Senator Burke and the son, I suppose, -for the late afternoon and the evening. - -Third, there's the Calling-Book. Already I've got down more than -a thousand names. The obscurer the women are--the back-district -congressmen's wives and the like--the greater the necessity for keeping -the calling account straight. I wonder how many public men have had -their careers injured or ruined just because their wives didn't keep -the calling account straight. They say that _men_ forgive slights, and, -when it's to their interest, forget them. But I know the _women_ never -do. They keep the knife sharp and wait for a chance to stick it in, -for years and years. Of course, if the Burkes weren't going into this -business in a way that makes me think the Senator's looking for the -nomination for president I shouldn't be so elaborate. We'd pick out our -set and stick to it and ignore the other sets. As it is, I'm going to -do this thing thoroughly, as it hasn't been done before. - -Fourth, there's our Ball-and-Big-Dinner Book. That's got a list of -all the young men and another of all the young women. And I'm making -notes against the names of those I don't know very well or don't know -at all--notes about their personal appearance, eligibility, capacities -for dancing, conversation, and so forth and so on. If you're going to -make an entertainment a success you've got to know something more or -less definite about the people that are coming, whom to ask to certain -things and whom not to ask. Take a man like Phil Harkness, or a girl -like Nell Witton, for example. Either of them would ruin a dinner, but -Phil shines at a ball, where silence and good steady dancing are what -the girls want. As for Nell, she's possible at a ball only if you can -be sure John Rush or somebody like him is coming--somebody to sit with -her and help her blink at the dancers and be bored. Then there's the -Sam Tremenger sort of man--a good talker, but something ruinous when -he turns loose in a ball-room and begins to batter the women's toilets -to bits. He's a dinner man, but you can't ask him when politics may be -discussed--he gets so violent that he not only talks all the time, but -makes a deafening clamor and uses swear words--and we still have quiet -people who get gooseflesh for damn. - -Then there's--let me see, what number--oh, yes--fifth, there's my -Acceptance-and-Refusal Book. It's most necessary, both as a direct help -and as an indirect check on other books. Then, too, I want it to be -impossible to send the Burkes to places they've said they wouldn't go, -or for them to be out when they've asked people to come here. Those -things usually happen when you've asked some of those dreadful people -that everybody always forgets, yet that are sure to be important at -some critical time. - -Sixth, there's my Book of Home Entertainments--a small book but most -necessary, as arranging entertainments in the packed days of the -Washington season isn't easy. - -Seventh, there's the little book with the list of entertainments other -people are going to give. We have to have that so that we can know -how to make our plans. And in it I'm going to keep all the information -I can get about the engagements of the people we particularly want to -ask. If I'm not sharp-eyed about that I'll fail in one of my principal -duties, which is getting the right sort of people under this roof often -enough during the season to give us "distinction." - -Eighth, there's my Distinguished-Stranger Book. I'm going to make that -a specialty. I want to try to know whenever anybody who is anybody -is here on a visit, so that we can get hold of him if possible. The -White House can get all that sort of information easily because the -distinguished stranger always gives the President a chance to get at -him. _We_ shall have to make an effort, but I think we'll succeed. - -Ninth--that's my book for press notices. It's empty now, but I think -"pa" Burke will be satisfied long before the season is over. - -Quite a library isn't it? How simple it must be to live in a city like -New York or Boston where one bothers only with the people of one set -and has practically no bookkeeping beyond a calling list. And here it's -getting worse and worse each season. - -Let me see, how many sets are there? There's the set that can say -must to us--the White House and the Cabinet and the embassies. Then -there's the set we can say must to--a huge, big set and, in a way, -important, but there's nobody really important in it. Then there's the -still wider lower official set--such people as the under-secretaries -of departments, the attachés of embassies, small congressmen and the -like. Then there's the old Washington aristocracy--my particular crowd. -It doesn't amount to "shucks," as Mrs. Burke would say, but everybody -tries to be on good terms with it, Lord knows why. Finally, there's the -set of unofficial people--the rich or otherwise distinguished who live -in Washington and must be cultivated. And we're going to gather in all -of them, so as not to miss a trick. - -The first one of the Burkes to whom I showed my books and explained -myself in full was "ma" Burke. She looked as if she had been taken with -a "misery," as she calls it. "Lord! Lord!" she groaned. "Whatever have -I got my fool self into?" - -I laughed and assured her that it was nothing at all. "I'm only showing -you _my_ work. All you've got to do is to carry out each day's work. -I'll see to it that you won't even have to bother about what clothes to -wear, unless you want to. You'll be perfectly free to enjoy yourself." - -"_Enjoy_ myself?" said she. "Why, I'll be on the jump from morning till -night." - -"From morning till morning again," I corrected. "The men sleep -in Washington. But the women with social duties have no time for -sleep--only for naps." - -"I reckon it'll hardly be worth while to undress for bed," she said -grimly. "I'm going to have the bed taken out of my room. It'd drive -me crazy to look at it. Such a good bed, too. I always was a great -hand for a good bed. I've often said to pa that you can't put too much -value into a bed--and by bed I don't mean headboard and footboard, nor -canopy nor any other fixings. What do you think of my hair?" - -I was a bit startled by her sudden change of subject. I waited. - -"Don't mind me--speak right out," she said with her good-natured -twinkle. "You might think it wasn't my hair, but it is. The color's -not, though, as you may be surprised to hear." The "surprised" was -broadly satirical. - -"I prefer natural hair," said I, "and gray hair is most becoming. It -makes a woman look younger, not older." - -"That's sensible," said she. "I never did care for bottled hair. I -think it looks bad from the set-off, and gets worse. The widow Pfizer -in our town got so that hers was bright green after she bottled it for -two years, trying to catch old man Coakley. And after she caught him -she bottled his, and it turned out green, too, after a while." - -"Why run such a risk?" said I. "I'm sure your own hair done as your -maid can do it would be far more becoming." - -Mrs. Burke was delighted. "I might have known better," she observed, -"but I found Mr. Burke bottling his beard, and he wanted me to; and it -seemed to me that somehow bottled hair just fitted right in with all -the rest of this foolishness here. How they would rear round at home if -they knew what kind of a place Washington is! Why, I hear that up at -the White House, when the President leaves the table for a while during -meals, all the ladies--women, I mean--his wife and all of them, have to -rise and stand till he comes back." - -"Yes," I replied. "He's started that custom. I like ceremony, don't -you?" - -"No, I can't say that I do," she drawled. "Out home all the drones and -pokes and nobodies are just crazy about getting out in feathers and -red plush aprons and clanking and pawing round, trying to make out -they're somebody. And I've always noticed that whenever anybody that -is a somebody hankers after that sort of thing it's because he's got a -streak of nobody in him. No, I don't like it in Cal Walters out home, -and I don't like it in the President." - -"We've got to do as the other capitals do," said I. "Naturally, as we -get more and more ambassadors, and a bigger army, and the President -more powerful, we become like the European courts. And the President is -simply making a change abruptly that'd have to come gradually anyhow." - -Her eyes began to twinkle. "First thing you know, the country'll turn -loose a herd of steers from the prairies in this town, and--But, long -as it's here, I suppose I've got to abide by it. So I'll do whatever -you say. It'll be a poor do, without my trying to find fault." - -And she's being as good as her word. She makes me tell her exactly -what to do. She is so beautifully simple and ladylike in her frank -confessions of her ignorance--just as the Queen of England would be if -she were to land on the planet Mars and have to learn the ways--the -surface ways, I mean. I've no doubt that outside of a few frills which -silly people make a great fuss about, a lady is a lady from one end of -the universe to the other. - -I'm making the rounds of my friends with Mrs. Burke in this period of -waiting for the season to begin. And she sits mum and keeps her eyes -moving. She's rapidly picking up the right way to say things--that -is, the self-assurance to say things in her own way. I took her -among my friends first because I wanted her to realize that I was -absolutely right in urging her to naturalness. There are so many in the -different sets she'll be brought into contact with who are ludicrously -self-conscious. Certainly, there's much truth in what she says about -the new order. We Americans don't do the European sort of thing well, -and, while the old way wasn't pretty to look at it, it was--it was our -own. However, I'm merely a social secretary, dealing with what is, and -not bothering my head about what ought to be. And as for the Burkes, -they're here to take advantage of what is, not to revolutionize things. - -Mr. Burke himself was the next member of the family at whom I got a -chance with my great plans. When he had got it all out of me he began -to pace up and down the floor, pulling at his whiskers, and evidently -thinking. Finally he looked at me in a kindly, sharp way, and, in a -voice I recognized at once as the voice of the Thomas Burke who had -been able to pile up a fortune and buy into the Senate, said: - -"I double your salary, Miss Talltowers. And I hope you understand that -expense isn't to be considered in carrying out your program. I want you -to act just as if this were all for yourself. And if we succeed I think -you'll find I'm not ungenerous." And before I could try to thank him he -was gone. - -The last member was "Bucyrus." As I knew his parents wished to be -alone with him at first I kept out of the way, breakfasting in my -rooms, lunching and dining out a great deal. What little I saw of him -I didn't like. He ignored me most of the time--and I, for one woman, -don't like to be ignored by any man. When he did speak to me it was as -they speak to the governess in families where they haven't been used -to very much for very long. Perhaps this piqued me a little, but it -certainly amused me, and I spoke to him in an humble, deferential way -that seemed somehow to make him uneasy. - -It was day before yesterday that he came into my office about an hour -after luncheon. He tried to look very dignified and superior. - -"Miss Talltowers," he said, "I must request you to refrain from calling -me sir whenever you address me." - -"I beg your pardon, sir," I replied meekly, "but I have never addressed -you. I hope I know my place and my duty better than that. Oh, no, sir, -I have always waited to be spoken to." - -He blazed a furious red. "I must request you," he said, with his speech -at its most fancy-work like, "not to continue your present manner -toward me. Why, the very servants are laughing at me." - -"Oh, sir," I said earnestly, "I'm sure that's not my fault." And I -didn't spoil it by putting accent on the "that" and the "my." - -He got as pale as he had been red. "Are you trying to make it -impossible for us to remain under the same roof?" he demanded. What a -spoiled stupid! - -"I'm sure, sir," said I, and I think my eyes must have shown what an -unpleasant mood his hinted threat had put me in, "that I'm not even -succeeding in making it impossible for us to remain in my private -office at the same time. Do you understand me, or do you wish me to -make my meaning--" - -He had given a sort of snort and had rushed from the room. - -I suppose I ought to be more charitable toward him. A small person, -brought up to regard himself as a sort of god, and able to buy -flattery, and permitted to act precisely as his humors might -suggest--what is to be expected of such a man? No, not a man but boy, -for he's only twenty-six. _Only_ twenty-six! One would think I was -forty to hear me talking in that way of twenty-six. But women always -seem older than men who are even many years older than they. And how -having to earn my own bread has aged me inside! I think Jessie was -right when she said in that solemn way of hers, "And although, dear -Augusta, they may think you haven't brains enough, I assure you you'll -develop them." Poor, dear Jessie! How she would amuse herself if she -could be as she is, and also have a sense of humor! - -At any rate, Mr. Bucyrus came striding back after half an hour, and, -rather surlily but with a certain grudging manliness, said: "I beg your -pardon, Miss Talltowers, for what I said. I am ashamed of my having -forgotten myself and made that tyrannical speech to you." - -"Thank you, sir," said I, without raising my eyes. "You are most -gracious." - -"And I hope," he went on, "that you will try to treat me as an equal." - -"It'll be very hard to do that, sir," said I. And I lifted my eyes and -let him see that I was laughing at him. - -He shifted uneasily, red and white by turns. "I think you understand -me," he muttered. - -"Perfectly," said I. - -He waved his arm impatiently. "Please don't!" he exclaimed rather -imperiously. "I could have got my mother to--" - -"I hope you won't complain of me to your mother," I pleaded. - -He flushed and snorted, like a horse that is being teased by a fly it -can reach with neither teeth, hoofs nor tail. "You know I didn't mean -that. I'm not an utter cad--now, don't say, 'Aren't you, sir?'" - -"I had no intention of doing so," said I. "In fact I've been trying -to make allowances for you--for your mother's sake. I appreciate that -you've been away from civilization for a long time. And I'm sure we -shall get on comfortably, once you've got your bearings again." - -He was silent, stood biting his lips and looking out of the window. -Presently, when I had resumed my work, he said in an endurable tone and -manner: "I hope you will be kind enough to include me in that admirable -social scheme of yours. Are those your books?" - -I explained them to him as briefly as I could. I had no intention -of making myself obnoxious, but on the other hand I did not, and do -not purpose to go out of my way to be courteous to this silly of an -overgrown, spoiled baby. He tried to be nice in praise of my system, -but I got rid of him as soon as I had explained all that my obligations -as social secretary to the family required. He thanked me as he was -leaving and said, in his most gracious tone, "I shall see that my -father raises your salary." - -I fairly gasped at the impudence of this, but before I could collect -myself properly to deal with him he was gone. Perhaps it was just as -well. I must be careful not to be "sensitive"--that would make me as -ridiculous as he is. - -And that's the man Jim Lafollette is fairly smoking with jealousy of! -He was dining at Rachel's last night, and Rachel put him next me. He -couldn't keep off the subject of "that young Burke." Jessie overheard -him after a while and leaned round and said to me, "How do you and -young Mr. Burke get on?" in her "strictly private" manner--Jessie's -strictly private manner is about as private as the Monument. - -"Not badly," I replied, to punish Jim. "We're gradually getting -acquainted." - -Jim sneered under his mustache. "It's the most shameful scheme two -women ever put up," he said, as if he were joking. - -"Oh, has Jessie told you?" I exclaimed, pretending to be concealing my -vexation. - -"It's the talk of the town," he answered, showing his teeth in a grin -that was all fury and no fun. - -There may be women idiots enough to marry a man who warns them in -advance that he's rabidly jealous, but I'm not one of them. Better a -crust in quietness. - - - - -III - - -December 27. Three weeks simply boiling with business since I wrote -here--and it seems not more than so many days. And all by way of -preparation, for the actual season is still five days away. - -I can hardly realize that Mrs. Burke is the same person I looked at so -dubiously two days less than a month ago. Truly, the right sort of us -Americans are wonderful people. To begin with her appearance: her hair -isn't "bottled," as she called it, any more. It's beautiful iron-gray, -and softens her features and permits all the placid kindliness and -humor of her face to show. Then there's her dress--gracious, how -tight-looking she was! A _thin_ woman can, and should, wear _close_ -things. But no woman who wishes to look like a lady must ever wear -anything _tight_. To be tight in one's clothes is to be tight in one's -talk, manner, thought--and that means--well, common. What an expressive -word "common" is, yet I'm sure I couldn't define it. - -For a fat woman to be tight is--revolting! My idea of misery is a fat -woman in a tight waist and tight shoes. Yet fat women have a mania -for wearing tight things, just as gaunt women yearn for stripes and -short women for flounces. My first move in getting Mrs. Burke into -shape--after doing away with that dreadful "bottled" hair--was to -put her into comfortable clothes. The first time I got her into an -evening dress of the right sort I was rewarded for all my trouble by -her expression. She kissed me with tears in her eyes. "My dear," said -she, "never before did I have a best dress that I wasn't afraid to -breathe in for fear I'd bust out, back or front." Then I made her sit -down before her long glass and look at herself carefully. She had the -prettiest kind of color in her cheeks as she smiled at me and said: "If -I'd 'a' looked like this when I was young I reckon Mr. Burke wouldn't -'a' been so easy in his mind when he went away from home, nor 'a' -stayed so long. I always did sympathize with pretty women when they -capered round, but now I wonder they ever do sober down. If I weighed a -hundred pounds or so less I do believe I'd try to frisk yet." - -And I do believe she could; for she's really a handsome woman. Why is -it that the women who have the most to them don't give it a chance to -show through, but get themselves up so that anybody who glances at them -tries never to look again? - -It is the change in her appearance even more than all she's learned -that has given her self-confidence. She feels at ease--and that puts -her at ease, and puts everybody else at ease, too. It has reacted upon -Mr. Burke. He has dropped brilliantine--perhaps "ma" gave him a quiet -hint--and he has taken some lessons in dress from "Cyrus," who really -gets himself up very well, considering that he has lived in Germany -for three years. I should have hopes that "pa" would blossom out into -something very attractive socially if he hadn't a deep-seated notion -that he is a great joker. A naturally serious man who tries to be funny -is about the most painful object in civilization. Still, Washington -is full of statesmen and scholars who try to unbend and be "light," -especially with "the ladies." Nothing makes me--or any other woman, I -suppose--so angry as for a man to show that he takes me for a fool by -making a grinning galoot of himself whenever he talks to me. Bucyrus is -much that kind of ass. He alternates between solemnity and silliness. - -I said rather pointedly to him the other night: "You men with your -great, deep minds make a mistake in changing your manner when you talk -with the women and the children. Nothing pleases us so much as to be -taken seriously." But it didn't touch him. However, he's hardly to -blame. He's spent a great many years round institutions of learning, -and in those places, I've noticed, every one has a musty, fusty sense -of humor. Probably it comes from cackling at classical jokes that have -laughed themselves as dry as a mummy. - -We've been giving a few entertainments--informal and not large, but -highly important. I had two objects in mind: In the first place, to -get Mr. and Mrs. Burke accustomed to the style of hospitality they've -got to give if they're going to win out. In the second place, to get -certain of the kind of people who are necessary to us in the habit of -coming to this house--and those people are not so very hard to get hold -of now; later they'll be engaged day and night. - -For two weeks now I've had my two especial features going. One of them -is for the men, the other for the women. And I can see already that -they alone would carry us through triumphantly; for they've caught on. - -My men's feature is a breakfast. I engaged a particularly good -cook--the best old-fashioned Southern cook in Washington. Rachel had -her, and I persuaded Mr. Derby to consent to giving her up to us, just -for this season. Cleopatra--that's her name--has nothing to do but -get together every morning by nine o'clock the grandest kind of an -old-fashioned American breakfast. And I explained to Senator Burke that -he was to invite some of his colleagues, as many as he liked, and tell -them to come any morning, or every morning if they wished, and bring -their friends. - -I consult with Cleopatra every day as to what she's to have the next -morning; and I think dear old father taught me what kind of breakfast -men like. I don't give them too much, or they'd be afraid to come -and risk indigestion a second time. I see to it that everything is -perfectly cooked--and it's pretty hard for any man to get indigestion, -even from corned beef hash and hot cornbread and buckwheat cakes with -maple syrup, if it's perfectly cooked and is eaten in a cheerful -frame of mind. No women are permitted at these breakfasts--just men, -with everything free and easy, plenty to smoke, separate tables, but -each large enough so that there's always room at any one of them for -one more who might otherwise be uncomfortable. Even now we have from -fifteen to twenty men--among them the very best in Washington. In the -season we'll have thirty and forty, and our house will be a regular -club from nine to eleven for just the right men. - -My other big feature is an informal dance every Wednesday night. It's -already as great a success in its way as the breakfasts are in theirs. -I've been rather careful about whom I let Mrs. Burke invite to come -in on Wednesdays whenever they like. The result is that everybody is -pleased; the affairs seem to be "exclusive," yet are not. I know it -will do the Burkes a world of good politically, because a certain kind -of people who are important politically but have had no chance socially -are coming to us on Wednesdays, and that's just the kind of people who -are frantically flattered by the idea that they are "in the push." - -Speaking of being "in the push," there are two ways of getting there -if one isn't there. One is to worm your way in; the other is to make -yourself the head and front of "the push." That's the way for those -who have money and know how. And that's the way the Burkes are getting -in--getting in at the front instead of at the rear. - -It's most gratifying to see how Mr. Burke treats me. He always has -been deferential, but he now shows that he thinks I have real brains. -And since his breakfasts have become the talk of the town and are -"patronized" by the men he's so eager to get hold of, he is even -consulting me about his business. I am criticizing for him now a speech -he's going to make on the canal question next month--a dreadfully -dull speech, and I don't feel competent to tell him what to do with -it. I think I'll advise him not to make it, tell him his forte is -diplomacy--winning men round by personal dealing with them--which is -the truth. - -Young Mr. Burke--after a period of unbending--is now shyer than ever. -I wondered why, until it happened to occur to me one day as I was -talking with Jessie. I suddenly said to her: "Jessie, did you ever tell -Nadeshda that you had planned to marry me to Cyrus Burke?" - -She hopped about in her chair a bit, as uneasy as a bird on a swaying -perch. Then she confessed that she "might have suggested before -Nadeshda what a delightfully satisfactory thing it would be." - -I laughed to relieve her mind--also because it amused me to see through -Nadeshda. - -Of course, one of the women I needed most in this Burke campaign was -Nadeshda. And I happened to know that she is bent on marrying a rich -American--indeed, that's the only reason why the wilds of America are -favored with the presence of the beautiful, joy-loving, courted and -adored Baroness Nadeshda Daragane. The yarn about her sister, the -ambassadress, being an invalid and shrinking from the heavy social -responsibilities of the embassy is just so much trash. So, as soon as -"Cyrus" came I went over to see her, and, as diplomatically as I knew -how, displayed before her dazzled eyes the substantial advantages of -the sole heir of the great Western multi-millionaire. - -As I went on to tell how generous the Senator is, and how certain he -would be to lavish wealth upon his daughter-in-law, I could see her -mind at work. A fascinating, naughty, treacherous little mind it -is--like a small Swiss watch of the rarest workmanship and full of -wheels within wheels. And she's a beautiful little creature, as warm as -a tropical sun to look at, and about as cold as the Arctic regions to -deal with. No, I haven't begun to describe her. I'd not be surprised -to hear that she had eloped with her brother-in-law's coachman; nor -should I be surprised to hear that she had married the most hideous, -revolting man in the world for his money, and was suspected of being -engaged in trying to hasten him off to the grave. She's of the queer -sort that would kiss or kill with equal enthusiasm, capable of almost -any virtue or vice--on impulse. If there's any part of her beneath the -impulsive part it's solid ice in a frame of steel. But--is there? She's -talked about a good deal--not a tenth enough to satisfy her craving -for notoriety, and, I may add, not a tenth part so much as she deserves -to be, and would be if we studied character on this side of the water -instead of being too busy with ourselves to look beyond anybody else's -surface. - -Well, the Baroness Nadeshda has been wild about the Burkes ever since -we had our talk. And she has Mr. Cyrus thoroughly tangled in her nets, -and the Senator, too. And, naturally, she lost no time in trying to -"do" me. She has told Bucyrus what a designing creature I am--no doubt -has warned him that if I seem distant to him I'm at my deadliest, and -to look out for mines. He certainly is looking out for them, for, -whenever I speak to him, he acts as if he were stepping round on a -volcano. I'm having a good deal of fun with him. I wish I had the -time; I'd try to teach him a very valuable lesson. Really, it's a shame -to let a man go through life imagining that he's an all-conqueror, when -in reality the woman who marries him will feel that she's swallowing -about as bitter a dose as Fate ever presented to feminine lips in a -gold spoon. - -Dear old "ma" Burke hasn't yet yielded to Nadeshda's blandishments. We -went to the embassy to call yesterday afternoon at tea-time, and I saw -her watching Nadeshda in that smiling, simple way of hers that conceals -about as keen a brain as I shouldn't care to have tearing me to pieces -for inspection. - -The embassy at tea-time is always wild. For then Sophie comes in with -her monkey and Nadeshda's seven dogs are racing about. And the Count -always laughs loudly, usually at nothing at all. And each time he -laughs the dogs bark until the monkey in a great fright dashes up the -curtains or flings himself at Sophie and almost strangles her with his -paws or arms, or whatever they are, round her neck. I don't think I've -ever been there that something hasn't been spilt for a huge mess; often -the whole tea-table topples over. Mrs. Burke loves to go, for afterward -she laughs a dozen times a day until her sides ache. - -As we came away yesterday I said to her: "What a fascinating, beautiful -creature Nadeshda is!" - -Mrs. Burke smiled. "When I was a girl," she said, "I had a catamount -for a pet--a cub, and they had cut his claws. He was beautiful and -mighty fascinating--you never did know when he was going to fawn on you -and when he was going to fasten his teeth in you. The baroness puts me -in mind of my old pet, and how I didn't know which was harder--to keep -him or to give him up." - -"She certainly has a strange nature," said I. - -After a pause Mrs. Burke went on: "She's the queerest animal in this -menagerie here, so far as I've seen. And I don't think I'm wrong in -suspecting she's sitting up to Cyrus." - -"I don't wonder he finds her interesting," said I. - -"Cyrus is just like his pa," said she, "a mighty poor judge of women. -It was lucky for his pa that he married and settled down before he had -much glitter to catch the eyes of the women. Otherwise, he'd 'a' made a -ridiculous fool of himself. But I like a man the women can fool easy. -That shows he's honest. These fellows who are so sharp at getting on to -the tricks of the women ain't, as a rule, good for much else. But Cyrus -has got _me_ to look after him." - -"He might do much worse than marry Nadeshda," said I. - -"That's what his pa says," she replied. "But I ain't got round to these -new-fashioned notions of marriage. I want to see my Cyrus married to -the sort of woman his ma'd like and be proud to have for the mother of -her grand-children. And I ain't altogether sure we need the kind of -tone in our blood that a catamount'd bring. Though I must say a year or -so of living with a catamount might do Cyrus a world of good." - -Which shows that even love can't altogether blind "ma" Burke. - -January 3. I had to do a little scheming to get Mrs. Burke an -invitation to assist at the New Year's reception. It's always the first -event of the season, and, though it would have been no great matter -if I hadn't been able to get her in among those who stand near the -President's wife and the Cabinet women, still I felt that I couldn't -get my "pulls" into working order any too soon. Ever since the second -week in my "job" I've realized that nothing could be easier than to put -the Burkes well to the front, but my ambition to make them first calls -for the exertion of every energy. - -So, in the third week of December I set Rachel at Mrs. Senator Lumley -and Mrs. Admiral Bixby--two women who can get almost anything in reason -out of the President's wife. Rachel is about the most important woman -in the old Washington aristocracy, and the Lumleys and the Bixbys are -in the nature of fixtures here, not at all like an evanescent President -or Cabinet person. So Rachel's request set the two women to work. And -although the President's wife said she'd asked all she intended to ask, -far too many, and didn't see why on earth she should be beset for a -newcomer who had been reported to her as fat and impossible, still she -finally yielded. - -I hadn't hoped to get an invitation for them for the Cabinet dinner, -and I was astounded when it came. We had arranged to give a rather -large informal dinner that night and had to call it off, as an -invitation from the White House, even from the obscurest member of the -President's family for any old function whatever, is a command that -may not be disobeyed. Well, as I was saying, the invitation to the -Cabinet dinner came unsought. It seems that the Burke breakfasts are -making a great stir politically; so great a stir that they have made -the President a little uneasy. Of course, the best way to get rid of an -opponent is to conciliate him. Hence the royal command to Senator and -Mrs. Burke to appear at his Majesty's dinner to his Majesty's ministers. - -Mrs. Burke is tremendously proud of her first two communications from -the White House. As for the Senator, he looks at them half a dozen -times a day. - -I went down to the New Year's reception to see how "ma" was getting on. -As I had expected, she didn't stand very long. She cast about for a -chair, and, seeing one, planted herself. Soon the Baroness joined her, -and young Prince Krepousky joined Nadeshda, and then General Martin, -who loves Mrs. Burke for the feeds she gives. The group grew, and -Mrs. Burke began to talk in her drawling, humorous way, and Nadeshda -laughed, which made the others laugh--for it's impossible to resist -Nadeshda. When I arrived Mrs. Burke was "right in it." - -And after a while the President came and said: "Is this your reception, -madam, or is it mine?" At which there was more laughing, he raising a -great guffaw and slapping his hip with his powerful hand. Then they all -went up to have something to eat, and the President spent most of the -time with her. - -She doesn't need any more coaching. Of course, she's flattered by her -success. But instead of having her head turned, as most women do who -get the least bit of especial attention from the conspicuous men here, -she takes it all very placidly. "They don't care shucks for me," she -says, "and I know it. We're all in business together, and I'm mighty -glad it can be carried on so cheerful-like." At the Cabinet dinner, -to-morrow night, she'll have to sit well down toward the foot of the -table. But she won't mind that. Indeed, if I hadn't been giving her -lessons in precedence she wouldn't have an idea that everything here is -arranged by rank. - -Jessie--so she tells me--had a half-hour's session with "Cyrus" the -other day and gave him a very exalted idea of my social position and -influence. No doubt, what she said confirmed his suspicion that I and -my friends are conspiring against him; but I observe a distinct change -in his manner toward me. He's even humble. I suppose he thought I -was some miserable creature whom his mother had taken on, half out -of charity. I'm afraid I have a sort of family pride that's a little -ridiculous--but I can't help it. Still, I am American enough to despise -people who are courteous or otherwise, according as they look up to or -look down on the particular person's family and position. I guess young -Mr. Burke is his father in an aggravated form. Yet Jessie, and Rachel, -too, pretend to like him. And probably they really do--it's not hard -to like any one who is not asking favors and is in a position to grant -them, and isn't so near to one that his quills stick into one. - -The Countess of Wend came in to see me this afternoon and told me all -about the row over at the legation. It seems that the new minister is -a plebeian, and in their country people of his sort aren't noticed by -the upper classes unless an upper-class man happens to need something -to wipe his boots on and one of them is convenient for use. Well, every -attaché is in a fury, and none of them will speak to the minister -except in the most formal way and only when it's absolutely necessary. -As for the minister's wife, the other women--but what's the use of -describing it; we all know how nasty women can be about matters of -rank. The Count is talking seriously of resigning. I'd be dreadfully -sorry, as Eugenie is a dear, more like an American than a foreigner; -and I believe she really likes us, where most of them privately despise -us as a lot of low-born upstarts. I know they laugh all day long at the -President's queer manners and mannerisms--but then, so do we, for that -matter. And it's quite unusual for Washington, where each President is -bowed down to and praised everywhere and flattered till he thinks he's -a sort of god--and forgotten as soon as his term is ended. I suppose -there's nothing deader on this earth than an ex-President, with no -offices to distribute and no hopes for a further political career. - -January 9. We had a beautiful dinner here last night--very brilliant -too, as we all were going to a ball at the Russian embassy afterward. -All the diplomats and army men were in uniform--and one or two of the -army men were really brilliant. But none of the diplomats. They say -that no nation sends us its best or even its second best. It seems -that diplomats don't amount to much in this day of cables. Those who -have any intelligence naturally go to courts, where the atmosphere is -congenial and where there are chances for decorations. So we get only -the stiffs and stuffs--with a few exceptions. If it weren't for their -women-- - -But, to return to our dinner--Mrs. Burke went in with the German -ambassador, and I saw that they were getting on famously. He is a very -clever man in a small way, and has almost an American sense of humor. -As soon as he saw that she intended what she said to be laughed at he -gave himself up to it. "Your Mrs. Burke is charming, Miss Talltowers," -said he to me after dinner. "She ranks with Bret Harte and Mark Twain. -It's only in America that you find old women who make you forget to -wish you were with young and pretty women." - -Jim Lafollette took me in--the first time I've had him here. I must -say he behaved very well and was the handsomest man in the room. But -he never has much to say that is worth hearing. Though conversation at -Washington in society isn't on any too high a plane, as a rule--how -could conversation in a mixed society anywhere be very high?--still it -isn't the wishy-washy chatter and gossip that Jim Lafollette delights -in. Of course, army officers almost always go in for gossip--that comes -from sitting round with their women at lonely posts where nothing -occurs. And they, as a rule, either gossip or simply drivel when they -talk to women, because all the women that ever liked them liked them -for their brass buttons, and all the women they ever liked they liked -for their pretty faces and empty heads. So, usually, to get an army -officer at dinner is to sit with a bowl of soft taffy held to your -lips and a huge spoonful of it thrust into your mouth every time you -stop talking. That's true of many of the statesmen, too, especially the -heavyweights. I suppose I'm wrong, but I can't help suspecting a man -without a sense of humor of being a solemn fraud. - -You'd think American women, at the capital, at least, would be -interested in politics. But they're not. They say it's the vulgarity -of the intriguing and of most of the best intriguers that makes them -dislike politics, even here. I suspect there's another reason. We women -are so petted by the men that we don't have to know anything to make -ourselves agreeable. If we're pretty and listen well that's all that's -necessary. So, why get headaches learning things? - -Of course, there are exceptions. Take Maggie Shotwell. Her husband -is a wag-eared ass. Yet in eleven years she has advanced him from -second secretary to minister to a second-class power just by showing -up here at intervals and playing the game intelligently. And there are -scores of army women who do as well in a smaller way, and a few of the -diplomats' wives are most adroit, intriguing well both here and at -their homes in a nice, clean way, as intrigue goes. - -But most of the women are like "ma" Burke, who'd as soon think of -entering for a foot-race as of interfering in her husband's political -affairs in any way, beyond giving him some sound advice about the -men that can be trusted and the men that can't. I suppose if there -were real careers in public life in this country, not dependent upon -elections, the Washington women wouldn't be so lazy and indifferent, -but would wake up and intrigue their brothers and sons and other male -relatives into all sorts of things. Then, too, a man has to vote with -his "party" on everything that's important, and his "party" is a small -group of old men who are beyond social blandishments and go to bed -early every night and associate only with men in the daytime. - -No, we women don't amount to much _directly_ at Washington. If Jim -Lafollette had kept away from the women and society he might have -amounted to something. It's become a proverb that whenever a young man -comes here and goes in for the social end of it he is doomed soon to -disappear and be heard of no more. The President is trying to make -society amount to something, but he won't succeed. Whatever benefit -there may be in it will go, not to him, but to men like Senator Burke. -He doesn't go any more than he can help, except to his own breakfasts. -But he sends his wife, and so, without wasting any of his time, he -makes himself prominent in a very short space of time and gets all the -big social indirect influence--the influence of the women on their -husbands. - -Mrs. Burke's younger brother, Robert Gunton, arrived last night. He -reminds me of her, but he's slender and very active--a shabby sort of -person, clean but careless, and he looks as if he had so many other -things to think about that he hadn't time to think about himself. He -looks younger and talks older than his years. He's here to get some -sort of patent through; he won't permit his brother-in-law to assist -him; he refuses to go anywhere--in society, I mean. We rode up to the -Capitol together in a street-car this morning, and I liked him. - -"Why do you ride in a street-car?" he asked. - -"Because it's not considered good form to use carriages too much," I -replied. "It might rouse the envy of those who can't afford carriages." - -"Then it isn't because you don't want to, but because you don't dare -to?" - -"Yes," said I. "But things are changing rapidly. The rich people who -live here but care nothing for politics are gradually introducing class -distinctions." - -"You mean, poor people who like to fawn upon and hate the rich are -introducing class distinctions," he corrected. - -He is thirty-two years old; he treats a woman as if she were a man, -and he treats a man as if he himself were one. It isn't possible not to -like that sort of human being. - -Invitations are beginning to come in floods--invitations for the big, -formal things for which people are asked weeks in advance. And we are -getting a splendid percentage of acceptances for our big affairs, -thanks to my taking the trouble to find out the freest dates in the -season. If all goes well, before another month, as soon as it gets -round that we are going to give something big in a short time, lots of -pretty good people will be holding off from accepting other things in -the hope that they're on our list. - -Certainly, there's a good deal in going about anything in a systematic -way--even a social launching. - - - - -IV - - -January 12. We are all sleeping so badly. Even the Senator, whom -nothing has ever before kept from his "proper rest," is complaining -of wakefulness. Suppers every night either here or elsewhere, the -house never quiet until two or three in the morning, all of us up at -eight--Cyrus often at seven because he rides a good deal, and the early -morning is the only time when any one in Washington in the season -can find time to ride. "It's worse than the Wilderness campaign," -said Mr. Burke, who was a lieutenant in the war. "For now and then, -between battles and skirmishes, we did get plenty of sleep. This is -a continuous battle day and night, week in and week out, with no -let-up for Sundays." And Mrs. Burke--poor "ma!" How hollow-eyed and -sagged-cheeked she is getting with the real season less than two weeks -old! She says: "I wouldn't treat a dog as I treat myself. I no sooner -get to sleep than they wake me. I think the servants just delight to -wake me, and I don't blame them, for they're worse off than we are, -though I do try to be as easy on them as possible." She doesn't know -how many long naps they take while she's dragging herself from place to -place. - -On our way to the White House to a musicale she fell asleep. As we -rolled up to the entrance I had to wake her. She came to with a sort -of groan and gave a ludicrously pitiful glance at the attendant who was -impatiently waiting. "Oh, Lord!" she muttered. "I was dreaming I was in -bed, and it ain't so. Instead, I've got to enjoy myself." And then she -gave a dreary laugh. - -"Ma" Burke dozed through the musicale with a pleasant smile on her -large face and her head keeping time to the music. When we spoke to the -President and he said he hoped she'd "enjoyed herself," she drawled: -"I did that, Mr. President! I only wish it had been longer--I'm 'way -behind on sleep." He laughed uproariously. It's the fashion to laugh -at everything "ma" says now, because the German ambassador tells every -one what a wit she is. And who'd fail to laugh at wit admired by an -ambassador? - -Writing about sleep has driven off my fit of wakefulness. I'll only -add that Lu Frayne's in town, working day and night to get her husband -transferred from San Francisco to the War Department here. I think -she'll win out, as she's got two Senators who've been frightening -the President by acting queerly lately. It's too funny! When the new -Administration came every one was scared because the rumor got round -that he was going to give us a repetition of the Cleveland nightmare. -But there was nothing in it; the only "pulls" that have failed to -work are those that were strong with the last Administration, and -there's a whole crop of new pulls. Well, at least, the right sort of -people, those who have family and position, are getting their rights to -preference as they never did before. We've not had many Presidents who -knew the right sort of people even when they've been willing to please -them, if they could pick them out. - -What a changed Washington it is: so many formalities; so many rich -people; so many rich men, and men of family and position in office; -so many big, fine houses and English and French servants. "Such a -stylishness!" - -January 14. Our first big dance last night--I mean, formal dance to -show our strength. Everybody was here, and the dinner beforehand and -the supper afterward and all the mechanical arrangements, so to speak, -were perfect. The ball-room was a sight--even "ma" Burke, tired to -death, perked up. Almost all the diplomats, except those nobody asks, -were here. And I don't think more than thirty people we hadn't invited -ventured to come. We were all so excited that, after the last people -had gone, we sat round for nearly an hour. "Ma" Burke took me in her -arms and kissed me. "It was your ball," said she. "But then, everything -we get credit for is all yours; ain't it, pa?" - -"Miss Talltowers has certainly done wonderfully," said "pa" in his -cautious, judicial way. Then he seemed ashamed of himself, as if he had -been ungenerous, and shook hands with me and added: "Thank you, thank -you, Miss Augusta--if you'll permit me the liberty of calling you so." - -"I never expected to see as pretty a girl as you bothering to have -brains," Mrs. Burke went on to say. And for the first time in weeks and -weeks it occurred to me that I did have a personal existence apart from -my work--the books and bookkeeping, the servants and the housekeeper, -who is only one more to fuss with, the tradespeople, and musicians, and -singers, and florists, and--it makes my head whirl to try to recall the -awful list. - -"She won't be pretty very long," said Cyrus--he's taking lessons of his -mother and is dropping his fancy-work speech and his "made-in-Germany" -manners--"if she don't stop working day _and_ night." - -"Oh, I'm amusing myself," replied I; but I was reminded how weary I -felt, and went away to bed. I neglected to close my sitting-room door, -and as I was getting ready for bed in my dressing-room I couldn't help -overhearing a scrap of talk between Cyrus and Mr. Gunton as they went -along the hall on the way to their apartments. - -"The Tevises were disgusting--they showed their envy so plainly," Cyrus -said. The Tevises are trying hard to do what we're doing in a social -way, and though they must have even more money than the Burkes, they're -failing at it. - -"They'll never get anywhere," Mr. Gunton replied. "You can't collect -much of a crowd of nice people just to watch you spend money. You've -got to give them a real show. There's where Miss Talltowers comes in." - -"She has wonderful taste and originality," said Cyrus. Cyrus! - -Mr. Gunton sat out most of the evening with Nadeshda. I suppose -she was trying to make Cyrus jealous and also to create trouble -between him and his uncle. I've not seen a franker flirtation even -in Washington. Whenever I chanced to look at them, Mr. Gunton was -talking earnestly, and she seemed to be hanging to his words like a -thirsty bird to a water-pan. And her queer, subtle face was--well, -it was beautiful, and gave me that sense of the wild and fierce and -uncanny which makes her both fascinating and terrible. I think Mr. -Gunton was infatuated--indeed, I know it. For when I spoke of her to -him this morning his eyes seemed to blaze. He drew a long breath. "A -wonder-woman!" he said. "I never saw anything like her--in the flesh." -Then he looked a little sheepish, and added: "I mean it, but I laugh -at myself, too. There are fools that don't know they're fools; then, -there are fools that do know it and laugh at themselves as they plan -fresh follies--it takes a pretty clever man, Miss Talltowers, to make -a grand, supreme, rip-roaring ass of himself, doesn't it? At least, -I hope so." And with that somewhat mysterious observation he left me -abruptly. - -When I saw him and Nadeshda together so much at the ball I looked out -for Cyrus. He seemed bored, and devoted himself to wallflowers, but on -the whole was surprisingly unconcerned, apparently. I had him in sight -almost the whole evening. Jim Lafollette, who stuck to my train like a -Japanese poodle--I told him so, but he didn't take the hint--said that -"the gawk," meaning Cyrus, was hanging round me. "He's moon-struck," -said Jim. "So your little put-up job with Jessie seems to be doing -nicely, thank you." I wonder why a man assumes that the fact that he -loves a woman gives him the right to insult her and makes it his duty -to do it. And I wonder why we women assent to that sort of impudence. -There's another conventionality that ought to be stamped out. - -I find I was hasty in my judgment of Cyrus. He's a lot more of a man -than he led me to suppose at first. I think he might be licked into -shape. He ought to hunt up some widow or married woman older than -himself and go to school for a few seasons. But perhaps Nadeshda will -do as well. - -January 17. There were thirty-two at Senator Burke's "little informal -breakfast" yesterday morning, including four of the leading Senators, -two members of the Cabinet, an ambassador and three ministers, several -generals, half a dozen distinguished strangers, four or five big -financial men from New York who are here on "private business" with -Congress, and not a man who doesn't count for something except that -wretched little Framstern, who never misses anything free. And our -regular weekly informal dance was an equal success in its way. Senator -Ritchie told me it was amazing how Burke had forged to the front in -influence and in popularity. "And now that the newspapers have begun to -take him up he'll soon be standing out before the whole country." So -my little suggestion about the wives and families of correspondents of -the big papers, which the Burkes adopted, is bearing fruit. And Mrs. -Burke is so genuinely friendly and hospitable that really I've only to -suggest her being nice to somebody to set her to work. If she were the -least bit of a fraud I'd not dare--she'd only get into trouble. - -January 18. I was breakfasting alone in my sitting-room this morning--I -always do an hour or so of work before I touch anything to eat--when -Mr. Gunton sent, asking if he might join me. I was glad to have him. -His direct way is attractive, and he never talks without saying at -least a few things I haven't heard time and again. He was in riding -clothes, and as soon as I looked at him I saw he had something on his -mind. - -"Good ride?" I asked. - -He made an impatient gesture--whenever he has anything to say and -doesn't know how to begin, the way to start him off is to make some -commonplace remark. It acts like a blow that knocks in the head of a -full barrel. "I was out with the Baroness Daragane," he said, "with -Nadeshda." - -"And Cyrus?" said I. - -He looked at me in astonishment, then laughed queerly. "Oh, bother!" -he exclaimed. "Cyrus doesn't disturb himself about _her_, or she about -him--and you know it. Miss Talltowers, I love her--and she loves me." - -His tone was convincing. But, after the first shock, I couldn't believe -anything so preposterous. And I felt sorry for him--an honest, straight -man, inexperienced with women, a fine mixture of gentleness and -roughness, at once too much and too little of a gentleman for Nadeshda. -If I had dared I should have tried to undeceive him. But I'm not so -stupid as ever to try to make a person in love see the truth about -the person he or she's in love with. So I simply said: "She is a most -fascinating woman." - -[Illustration] - -"You think I'm a fool," he went on, as if I hadn't spoken, "and I am -a--a blankety-blank fool. Did you see her night before last in that -dress of silver spangles like the wonderful skin of some amazing -serpent? Did you see her eyes--her hair--the way her arms looked--as if -they could wind themselves round a man's neck and choke him to death -while her eyes were fooling him into thinking that such a death was -greater happiness than to live?" He rolled this all out, then burst -into a queer, crazy laugh. "You see, I'm a lunatic!" he said. - -"Yes, I see it," I replied cheerfully. "But why do you rave to me?" - -"Because I--we--have got to tell somebody, and you're the only person -in Washington that I know that's both sensible and experienced, wise -enough to understand, beautiful enough to sympathize, and young enough -to encourage." - -That was rather good for a man who had had less than a month's real -experience with women, wasn't it? I recognized Nadeshda's handiwork, -and admired. - -"Miss Talltowers," he went on, "I am going to make a fool of myself, -and she's going to help me." - -"In what particular sort of folly are you about to embark?" said I. - -"We're going to marry," he replied. "We've _got_ to marry. I'm afraid -of her and she's afraid of me, and we'll either have Heaven or the -other place when we do marry--perhaps big doses of each alternately. -But we've got to do it." - -"You know it's impossible," said I. "Under the laws of her country -she mayn't marry without the consent of her parents. And they'd never -consent." - -"Certainly they won't," said he, "unless you can suggest some way of -getting the ambassador and his wife round. We want to give her people a -chance." This with perfect coolness. I began to believe that there must -be something in it. - -"Does Nadeshda know you aren't rich?" I asked. - -"She knows I have practically nothing. In fact I told her I had less -than I have." - -"And you're sure she wishes to marry you?" - -"Ask her." - -He was quiet a while, then raved about her for ten minutes, begged me -to do my best thinking, and left me. I felt dazed. I simply couldn't -believe it. And the longer I thought, the more certain I was that -she was making some sort of grand play in coquetry, which seemed -ridiculous enough when I considered what small game Mr. Gunton is from -the standpoint of a woman like Nadeshda. - -In the afternoon I was in a flower store in Pennsylvania Avenue, and -Nadeshda joined me. Her surface was, if anything, cooler and subtler -and more cynical than usual. "Send away your cab," said she, "and let -me take you in my auto--wherever you wish." - -As I was full of curiosity, I accepted instantly. When we were under -way she gave me a strange smile--a slow parting of the lips, a slow -half-closing and elongation of those Eastern eyes which she inherits -from a Russian grandmother, I believe. - -"Well, Gus," she said, "has that wild man told you?" - -"Yes, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself," said I, a little -indignantly. "It ain't fair to coax an innocent into _your_ sort of -game and fleece him of his little all." - -She laughed--beautiful white teeth, cruel like her red lips. "It's all -true--all he told you," she replied. "All true, on my honor." - -Every season Washington's strange mixture of classes and conditions and -nations furnishes at least one sensation of some kind or other. But, -used as I am to surprises until they have ceased to surprise, this took -me quite aback. "Do you love him, Nadeshda--really?" - -She quite closed her eyes and said in a strange, slow undertone: -"He's my master. The blood in my veins flowed straight from the -savage wilderness. And he comes from there, and I don't dare disobey -him. I'd do anything he said. And when we're married I'll never -glance at another man--if he saw me he'd kill me. Ah, you don't -understand--you're too--too civilized. Now, I think I should love him -better if he'd beat me." - -I laughed--it was too ridiculous, especially as she was plainly in -earnest. She laughed, too, and added: "I think some day I'll try -to make him do it. He's afraid of me, too. And he may well be, for -I--well, he belongs to _me_, you see, and I _will_ have what's mine!" - -Yes, she would--I believe her absolutely. And I must say I like her at -last, for all her extremely uncanny way of loving and of liking to be -loved. I suppose she's only a primeval woman--I believe the primeval -woman fancied the lover who lay in wait and brought her down with a -club. I begin to understand Robert Gunton, too--that is, the side of -his nature she's roused. - -"Do you believe us?" she asked. - -"Yes, I do," said I, "and I apologize to you. I've been thinking of you -all along as--fascinating, of course, but--mercenary." - -"Ah, but so I am!" she exclaimed. "It breaks my heart to marry this -poor man--and of such a vulgar family--even among you funny Americans. -But"--she threw up her arms and her shoulders and let them drop in a -gesture of tragicomic helplessness--"I must have him; I must be his -slave." - -I can't imagine how it's going to end, as her people will never let -her marry him. Possibly, if "ma" Burke were to persuade the Senator -to settle a large sum on her--but that's wild, even if Gunton would -consent. I can imagine what a roar he'd give if such a thing were -proposed. He'll insist on having her on his own terms. As if his -insisting would do any good! - -The last thing she said to me was: "Do you know when we became engaged? -Listen! It was the first time we met--after three hours. After one hour -he made me insult the men who came up to claim dances. After two hours -he made me say, 'I love you.' After three hours--it was on the way down -to my carriage--he asked me to come into the little reception-room by -the entrance. And he closed the door and caught me in his arms and -kissed me. 'That makes you my wife,' he said in a _dreadful_ voice--oh, -it was--_magnifique!_--and he said, 'Do you understand?' And"--she -smiled ravishingly and nodded her head--"I understood." - -I shan't sleep a wink to-night. - -January 20. I wish they hadn't told me. If ever a man loves me and -wants to win me he must be--well, perhaps not exactly _that_, but -certainly not tame. I'm not a bit like Nadeshda, but I do hate the tame -sort. I know what's the matter with me now. Yes, I wish they hadn't -told me. - -January 21. Robert and Nadeshda have told "ma" Burke. She -is--_delighted_! "I never heard of the like," she said to me all in -a quiver. "I wish I'd known there were such things. I reckon I'd 'a' -made my Tom cut a few capers before he got _me_." And then she laughed -until she cried. It certainly was droll to picture "pa" capering in the -Robert-Nadeshda fashion. - -She went to the embassy and told Nadeshda's sister, Madame -l'Ambassadrice. "She let on as if she was just tickled to death," she -reported to me a few minutes after she returned. "And when I told her -that we--Tom and I--would do handsomely by Nadeshda as soon as they -were married she had tears in her eyes. But I don't trust her--nor any -other foreigner." - -"Not even Nadeshda?" - -"Ma" nodded knowingly. "I reckon Bob'll keep her on the chalk," she -replied. "He's started right, and in marriage, as in everything else, -it's all in the start." - -January 22. Nadeshda asked Mrs. Burke to give a big costume ball, but -I sat on it hard. "I don't think you want to do that, Mrs. Burke," -said I, when she proposed it to me. "If this were New York it wouldn't -matter so much, though I don't think really nice people with means do -that sort of thing there. Here I'm afraid it'd make you very unpopular." - -"Do you think so?" said she. "Now, I'd 'a' said it was just the sort of -foolishness these people'd like." - -"Those who have money would," I replied. "But how about those who -haven't? Don't you think that people of large means ought to make it a -rule never to cause any expense whatever to those of their friends and -acquaintances who haven't means?" - -"Don't say another word!" she exclaimed, seeing my point instantly. -"Why, it'd be the worst thing in the world. Out home I've always been -careful about those kind of things, but on here I don't know the people -and am liable to forget how they're circumstanced. They all seem -so prosperous on the surface. I reckon there's a lot of miserable -pinching and squinching when the blinds are down." - -Cyrus happened to come in just then, and she told him all about -it. He looked at me and grew red and evidently tried to say -something--probably something that would have shown how poorly he -thought of my cheating them all out of the fun. But he restrained -himself and said nothing. - -Presently he went out and must have gone straight to his -father--probably to remonstrate, though I may wrong him--for, after a -few minutes, the Senator came. - -"My son has just been telling me," he said to me, "and I agree with -you entirely. It would be ruinous politically. As it is, if it hadn't -been for you we'd never have been able to keep both the official and -the fashionable sets in a good humor with us." I never saw him so -"flustered" before. - -"What are you talking about, pa?" inquired Mrs. Burke. - -"About the costume ball you were thinking of giving." - -Mrs. Burke smiled. "You'd better go back to your cage," said she. -"That's settled and done for long ago." - -"Pa" looked more uneasy than his good-natured tone seemed to -justify--but, no doubt, he knows when he has put his foot into it. He -"faded" from the room. When she heard his study door close "ma" said to -me in a complacent voice: "There's nothing like keeping a man always to -his side of the fence. When 'pa' began to get rich I saw trouble ahead, -for he was showing signs that he was thinking himself right smart -better than the common run, and that he was including his wife in the -common run. I took Mr. Smartie Burke right in hand. And so, with him -it's never been 'I' in this family, but 'we.' And keeping it that way -has made Tom lots happier than he would 'a' been lording it over me and -having no control on his foolishness anywhere." - -What a dear, sensible woman she is! He's got good brains, but if he had -as good brains as she has he'd get what he's after and doesn't stand a -show for. - -January 24. The whole town is in a tumult over Robert and Nadeshda. -People think she's crazy. When Cyrus said this to me I said: "And I -think they are--at least, delirious." - -"A divine delirium, though," he replied, much to my astonishment. For -he's never shown before that he had so much as a spot of that sort of -thing in him. But then, I'm beginning to revise my judgment of him in -some ways. He is much nearer what his mother said he was than what I -thought him. But he's young and crude. I find that he likes--and really -appreciates--the same composers and poets and novelists that I do. I -can forgive much to any one who realizes what a poet Browning was--when -he did write poetry, not when he wrote the stuff for the Browning clubs -to fuddle with. - -Nadeshda is in the depths--except when Robert is by to hypnotize -her. "I was so strong," she said pathetically to me to-day, "or I -thought I was. And now I'm all weakness." She went on to tell me -how horribly they are talking to her at the embassy--for they are -determined she shan't marry "that nobody with nothing." I always knew -her brother-in-law was a snob of the cheapest and narrowest kind--the -well-born, well-bred kind. But I had no idea he was a coward. He -threatens to have the Emperor make her come home and go into a convent -if she doesn't break off the engagement within a week. - -We are tremendously popular. Everybody is cultivating us, hoping -to find out the real inside of this incredible engagement. And the -ambassador has to pretend publicly that he's personally wild with -delight and hopes Nadeshda's parents will consent. He knows how -unpopular it would make him and his country with America if his -opposition and his reason for it were to be known. - -January 30. Nadeshda has disappeared. They give out at the embassy that -she has left for home to consult with her parents. Robert looks like -a man who had gone stark mad and was fighting to keep himself from -showing it. - -We were all at the ball at the French embassy, Mr. and Mrs. Burke -dining there. I dined at the White House--a literary affair. The -conversation was what you might expect when a lot of people get -together to show one another how brilliant they are. The President -talked a great deal. He has very positive opinions on literature in all -its branches. I was the only person at the table who wasn't familiar -with his books. Fortunately, I wasn't cornered. Cyrus came to the ball -from Mrs. Dorringer's, where he took in the Duchess d'Emarre. "She has -a beautiful face in repose," he said to me as he paused for a moment, -"and it's not at all pretty when she talks. So she listened well." - -I was too tired to dance, as were the others. We went home together, -all depressed. "It's too ridiculous, this kind of life," said "ma" -Burke, "and the most ridiculous part of it is that, now we're hauled -into it and set a-going, we'll never get out and be sensible again. It -just shows you can get used to anything in this world--except doing as -you please. I don't believe anybody was ever satisfied to do that. Did -you ever wear a Mother Hubbard? _There's_ comfort!" - -I can think of nothing but Robert and Nadeshda. Have they some sort of -understanding? No--I'm afraid not. - -I forgot to put down that Robert made the Senator go to the Secretary -of State about Nadeshda's disappearance. The Secretary was sympathetic, -but he refused to interfere in any way. What else could he do? - - - - -V - - -February 1. Last night Robert started for Europe. He is going to see -Nadeshda's father and mother. I begin to suspect that Nadeshda has -really gone abroad and that she has let him know. He is certainly in -a very different frame of mind from what he was at first. But he says -nothing, hints nothing. Rachel, who has a huge sentimental streak in -her, has given Robert a letter to her sister Ellen--she's married to -one of the biggest nobles in the empire, Prince Glückstein. Also, she -has written Ellen a long, long letter, telling her all about Robert, -and what a great catch he is. And he _is_ a great catch now, for -Senator Burke has organized a company to take over his patents and pay -him a big sum for them--it'll sound fabulously big to such people as -the Daraganes. For even where these foreigners are very rich and have -miles on miles of land and large incomes from it, they're not used to -the kind of fortunes we have--the sums in cash, or in property that's -easily sold. And the Daraganes have only rank; their estates are quite -insignificant, Von Slovatsky says. - -"They might as well consent first as last," said Mrs. Burke to me just -after Robert left; "for Bob always gets what he wants. He never lets -go. Cyrus is the same way--he spent eleven months in the mountains -once, and like to 'a' starved and froze and died of fever, just because -he'd made up his mind not to come back without a grizzly. That's why -the President took to him." - -And then she told me that it was Cyrus who thought out the scheme -for making Robert financially eligible and put it in such form that -Robert consented. That convicted me of injustice again, for I had been -suspecting him of being secretly pleased at Robert's set-back--he -certainly hasn't looked in the least sorry for him. But it may be that -Robert has told him more than he's told us. He certainly couldn't have -found a closer-mouthed person. As his mother says, "The grave's a -blabmouth beside him when it comes to keeping secrets. And most men are -_such_ gossips." - -Mrs. Fortescue came in to tea this afternoon. Mrs. Burke was out -calling, and I received her--or, rather, she caught me, for I detest -her. Just as she was going Cyrus popped in, and she nailed him before -he could pop out. She thought it was a good chance to put in a few -strong strokes for her daughter. "Of course, it's very pretty and -romantic about Nadeshda," she said, "and in this case I'm sure no one -with a spark of heart could object. Still, the principle is bad. I -don't think young girls who are properly brought up are so impulsive -and imprudent. I often say to my husband that I think it's perfectly -frightful the way girls--young girls--go about in Washington. They're -out before they should be even thinking of leaving the nursery, and go -round practically unchaperoned. It's so demoralizing." - -"But how are they to compete with the young married women if they -don't?" said Cyrus, because he was evidently expected to say something. - -"I don't think a man--a _sensible_ man--looking for a wife for his home -and a mother for his children would want a girl who'd been 'competing' -in Washington society," she answered. "I don't at all approve the way -American girls are brought up, anyway--it's entirely too free and -destructive of the innocence that is a woman's chief charm. And as for -turning the young girls loose in Washington!" Mrs. Fortescue threw -up her hands. "It's simply madness. Most of the men are foreigners, -accustomed to meet only married women in society. They don't know how -to take a young girl, and they don't understand this American freedom. -The wonder to me is that we don't have a regular cataclysm every -season. Now, I never permit Mildred to go _anywhere_ without me or -some other _real_ chaperon. And I know that her mind is like a fresh -rose-leaf." - -Cyrus and I exchanged a covert glance of amusement. Mildred Fortescue -is a very nice, sweet girl, but--well, she does fool her mother -scandalously. - -"I should think a man would positively be _afraid_ to marry the -ordinary Washington society girl who knows everything that she -shouldn't and nothing that she should." - -"Perhaps that's what makes them so irresistible," said Cyrus. - -"Irresistible to flirt with and to _flaner_ about with," said Mrs. -Fortescue reproachfully. "But I'm sure you wouldn't marry one of them, -Mr. Burke." - -"Oh, I don't know," he answered. "No doubt it does spoil a good -many, being so free and associating with experienced men who've been -brought up in a very different way. But"--he hesitated and blushed -uncomfortably--"it seems to me that those who do come through all right -are about the best anywhere. If a girl has any really bad qualities -anywhere in her they come out here. And if a Washington girl does marry -a man--for himself--and I rather think they make marriages of the heart -more than most girls in the same sort of society in other cities--don't -you, Miss Talltowers?" - -"It may be so," I replied. "But probably they're much like girls--and -men--everywhere. They make marriages of the heart if they get the -chance. And if nobody happens along in the marrying mood who is able -to appeal to their hearts, they select the most eligible among the -agreeable ones they can get. I think many a girl has been branded as -mercenary when in reality the rich man she chose was neither more nor -less agreeable than the poor man she rejected, and she only had choice -among men she didn't especially care about." - -Mrs. Fortescue looked disgusted. Cyrus showed that he agreed with me. -"What I was going to say," he went on, "was, that if a Washington girl -does choose a man, after she has known lots of men and has come to -prefer him, she's not likely--at least, not _so_ likely--to repent her -bargain. And," he said, getting quite warmed up by his subject, "if a -man looks forward to his wife's going about in society, as he must if -he lives in a certain way, I think he's wise to select some one who has -learned something of the world--how to conduct herself, how to control -herself, how to fill the rôle Fate has assigned her." - -"Oh, of course, a girl should be well-bred," said Mrs. Fortescue, as -sourly as her sort of woman can speak to a bachelor with prospects. - -Cyrus said no more, and soon she was off. He stood at the window -watching her carriage drive away. He turned abruptly--I was at the -little desk, writing a note. - -"You can't imagine," he said with quick energy, "how I loathe the -average girl brought up in conventional, exclusive society in America." - -"Really?" said I, not stopping my writing--though I don't mind -confessing that I was more interested in his views than I cared to let -him see. - -"Yes, really," he replied ironically. Then he went on in his former -tone: "Poor things, they can't help having silly mothers with the idea -of aping the European upper classes, and with hardly a notion of those -upper classes beyond--well, such notions as are got in novels written -by snobs for snobs. And these unfortunate girls are afraid of a genuine -emotion--by Jove, I doubt if they even have the germs of genuine -emotion. All that sort of thing has been weeded out of them. Little dry -minds, little dry hearts--so 'proper,' so--vulgar!" - -"Not in Washington," said I. - -"No, not so many in Washington; though more and more all the time. Miss -Talltowers, will you marry me?" - -It was just like that--no warning, not a touch of sentiment toward me. -I almost dropped my pen. But I managed to hide myself pretty well. -I simply went on with my note, finished it, sealed and addressed it, -and rang for a servant. Then I went and stood by the fire. The servant -came; I gave him the note and went into my office. I had been in there -perhaps ten minutes when he came, looking shy and sheepish. He stumbled -over a low chair and had a ridiculous time saving himself from falling. -When he finally had himself straightened up and shaken together he -stood with his hands behind him, and his face red, and his eyes down, -and with his mouth fixed in that foolish little way as if he were about -to speak with his fancy-work way of handling his words. - -"Do you wish something?" I asked. - -"Only--only my answer," said he humbly. - -Would you believe it, I actually hesitated. - -"I want a woman that doesn't like me for my money, and that at the -same time would know how to act and would be--be sensible. I've had -you in mind ever since you explained your system for--for"--he smiled -faintly--"exploiting mother and father. And mother has been talking in -the same way of late. She says we can't afford to let you get out of -the family. That's all, I guess--all you'd have patience to hear." - -"Then you were making me a serious business proposition?" said I. - -"Well, you might call it that," he admitted, as if he weren't -altogether satisfied with my way of summing it up. - -"I'm much obliged, but it doesn't attract me," I said. - -He gave a kind of hopeless gesture. "I've put it all wrong," said he. -"I always _say_ things wrong. But--I--I believe I _do_ things better." -And he gave me a look that I liked. It was such a quaint mingling of -such a nice man with such a nice boy. - -"I understand perfectly," said I, and I can't tell how much I hated -to hurt him--he did so remind me of dear old "ma" Burke. "But--please -don't discuss it. I couldn't consider the matter--possibly." - -"You won't leave!" he exclaimed. "I assure you I'll not annoy you. You -must admit, Miss Talltowers, that I haven't tried to thrust myself on -you in the past. And--really, mother and father couldn't get on at all -without you." - -"Certainly, I shan't leave--why should I?" said I. "I'm very well -satisfied with my position." - -"Thank you," he said with an awkward bow, and he left me alone. - -Of course, I couldn't possibly marry him. But I suppose a woman's -vanity compels her to take a more favorable view of any man after -she's found out that he wishes to marry her. Anyhow, I find I don't -dislike him at all as I thought I did. I couldn't help being amused at -myself the next day. I was driving with Jessie, and she was giving me -her usual sermon on the advantages of the Burke alliance--if I could -by chance scheme it through. "You're very pretty, Gus," she said. "In -fact you're beautiful at times. Men do like height when it goes with -your sort of a--a willowy figure. Your eyes alone--if you would only -_use_ them--would catch him. And the Burkes would be--well, they might -object a little at first because you've given them a position that -has no doubt swollen their heads--but they'd yield gracefully. And -although you are very attractive and are always having men in love with -you, you've simply got to make up your mind soon. Look how many such -nice, good-looking girls have been crowded aside by the young ones. Men -are crazy about freshness, no matter what they pretend. Yes, you must -decide, dear. And--I couldn't _endure_ poor Carteret when I married -him." - -Carteret is a miserable specimen, and Jessie's ways keep him in a dazed -state--like an old hen sitting on a limb and turning her head round and -round to keep watch on a fox that's racing in a circle underneath. Fox -doesn't seem exactly to fit Jessie, but sometimes I suspect--however-- - -"But," Jessie was going on, "I knew mama was my best friend. And when -she said, 'Six months after marriage you'll be quite used to him and -won't in the least mind, and you'll be so glad you married somebody who -was quiet and good,' I married him. And I love him dearly, Gus, and we -make each other _so_ happy!" - -I laughed--Jessie doesn't mind; she don't understand what laughter -means in most people. I was thinking of what Rachel told me the other -day. She said to Carteret, "It must be great fun wondering what Jessie -will do next." And he looked at her in his dumb way and said: "What -she'll do _next_? Lord, I ain't caught up with _that_. I'm just about -six weeks behind on her record all the time." - -But to go back to Jessie's talk to me, she went on: "And Mr. Burke's -not so dreadfully unattractive, dear. Of course, he's far from -handsome, and--well, he's the son of Mr. and Mrs. Burke--but though -they're quite common and all that--" - -I found myself furiously angry. "I don't think he's at all -bad-looking," I said, pretending to be judicial. "He's big and strong -and sensible; and what more does a woman usually ask for? And I don't -at all agree with you about his father and mother, either--especially -his mother. No, Jessie, dear, my objections aren't yours at all. I'm -sure you wouldn't understand them, so let's not talk about it." - -February 3. Yesterday Mrs. Tevis sent for me. That was a good deal of -an impertinence, but I'm getting very sensible about impertinences. -She lives in grand style in a big, new house in K Street--it, like -everything about her, is "regardless of expense." The Tevises have been -making the most desperate efforts to "break in" last season and this, -and as Washington is, up to a certain point, very easy for strangers -with money, they've gone pretty far. I suppose Washington's like every -other capital--the people are so used to all sorts of queer strangers -and everything is so restless and changeful that no one minds adding to -his list of acquaintances any person who offers entertainment and isn't -too appalling. And the Tevises have been spending money like water. - -It's queer how people can go everywhere that anybody goes and can seem -to be "right in it," yet not be in it at all. That's the way it is -with the Tevises. They are at every big affair in town--White House, -embassies, private houses. But they're never invited to the smaller, -more or less informal things. And when they do appear at a ball or -anywhere they're treated with formal politeness. They know there's -something wrong, but they can't for the life of them see what it is. -And that's not strange, for who can see the line that's instinctively -drawn between social sheep and social goats in the flock that's -apparently all mixed up? Everybody knows the sheep on sight; everybody -knows the goats. And all act accordingly without anything being said. - -Well, Mr. and Mrs. Tevis are goats. Why? Anybody could see it after -talking to either of them for five minutes; yet who could say why? It -isn't because they're snobs--lots of sheep are nauseating snobs. It -isn't because they're very badly self-made--I defy anybody to produce -a goat that can touch Willie Catesby or Rennie Tucker, yet each of them -has ancestors by the score. It isn't because they're new--the Burkes -are new, yet Mrs. Burke has at least a dozen intimate acquaintances -of the right sort. It isn't because they're ostentatious and boastful -about wealth and prices--there are scores of sheep who make the same -sort of absurd exhibition of vulgarity. I can't place it. They're just -goats, and they know it, and they feel it; and when you go to their -house they suggest a restaurant keeper welcoming his customers; and -when they come to your house they suggest Cook's tourists roaming in -the private apartments of a palace, smiling apologetically at every one -and wondering whether they're not about to be told to "step lively." - -Mrs. Tevis received me very grandly and graciously, though dreadfully -nervous withal, lest I should be seeing that she was "throwing a bluff" -and should put her in her place. - -"I've requested you to come, my dear Miss Talltowers," she began, -after she had bunglingly served tea from the newest and costliest and -most elaborate tea-set I ever saw, "because I had a little matter of -business to talk over with you and felt that we could talk more freely -here." - -"I must be back at half-past five," said I, by way of urging her on to -the point. - -"That will be quite time enough," said she. "We can have our little -conversation quite nicely, and you will be in ample time for your -duties." - -I wonder what sort of dialect she _thinks_ in. It certainly can't be -more irritating than the one she translates her thoughts into before -speaking them. The dialect she inflicts on people sounds as if it were -from a Complete Conversationalist, got up by an old maid who had been -teaching school for forty years. - -"I have decided to take a secretary for next season," she went on. "Not -that I need any such direction as the Burkes. Fortunately, Mr. Tevis -and I have had a large social experience on both sides of the Atlantic -and have always moved with the best people. But just a secretary--to -attend to my onerous correspondence and arrangements for entertaining. -The duties would be light, but we should be willing to pay a larger -salary than the position would really justify--that is, we should be -willing to pay it, you know, to a _lady_ such as you are." - -I bowed. - -"We should treat you with all delicacy and appreciation of -the fact that your misfortunes have compelled you to take -a--a--position--which--which--" - -"You are very kind, Mrs. Tevis," said I. - -"And we realized that in all probability the Burkes would have no -further use for your services at the end of this season, as you have -been most successful with them." - -I winced. For the first time the "practical" view of what I've been -doing for the Burkes stared me in the face--that is, the view which -such people as the Tevises, perhaps many of my friends, took of it. So -I was being regarded, spoken of, discussed, as a person who had been -bought by the Burkes to get them in with certain people. And it was -assumed that, having got what they wanted, they would dismiss me and so -cut off a superfluous expense! I was somewhat astonished at myself for -not having seen my position in this light before. - -And I suddenly realized why I hadn't--because the Burkes were really -nice people, because I hadn't been their employee but their friend. -What if I had started my career as a dependent of Mrs. Tevis'! I -shivered. And when the Burkes should need me no longer--why, the -probabilities were that I should have to seek employment from just -such dreadful people as these--upstarts eager to jam themselves in, -vulgarians whom icy manners and forbidding looks only influence to -fiercer efforts to associate with those who don't wish to associate -with them. - -Mrs. Tevis interrupted my dismal thoughts with a cough, intended to be -polite. "What--what--compensation would you expect, may I ask?" - -"What do such positions pay?" I said, and my voice sounded harsh to me. -I wished to know what value was usually put upon such services. - -"Would--say--twenty-five dollars a week be--meet with your views?" -she asked, and her tone was that of a person performing an act of -astounding generosity. - -"Oh, dear me, no," said I, with the kind of sweetness that coats a pill -of gall. "I couldn't think of trying to get you in for any such sum as -that." - -I saw that the gall had bit through the sugar-coat. - -"Would you object to giving me some idea of what the Burkes pay?" she -asked, with the taste puckering her mouth. - -"I should," I replied, rising. "Anyhow, I don't care to undertake the -job. Thank you so much for your generosity and kindness, Mrs. Tevis." -I nodded--I'm afraid it was a nod intended to "put her in her place." -"Good-by." And I smiled and got myself out of the room before she -recovered. - -I _wish_ I hadn't seen her. I hate the truth--it's always unpleasant. - -February 5. Mrs. Burke had thirty-one invitations to-day, eleven of -them for her and Mr. Burke. Seven were invitations to little affairs -which Mrs. Tevis would give--well, perhaps five dollars apiece--to -get to. How ridiculous for her to economize in the one way in which -liberality is most necessary. Here they are spending probably a -hundred thousand dollars a season in hopeless attempts to do that which -they would hesitate to pay me six hundred dollars for doing. And this -when they think I could accomplish it. But could I? I guess not. To -win out as I have with the Burkes you've got to have the right sort -of material to work on, and it must be workable. Vulgar people would -be ashamed to put themselves in any one's hands as completely as Mrs. -Burke put herself in my hands. - -Oh, I'm sick--sick, sick of it! I'm ashamed to look "ma" Burke in the -face, because I think such mean things about them all when I'm in bed -and blue. - -February 6. I decline all the invitations that come for me personally. -I sit in my "office" and pretend to be fussing with my books--they give -me the horrors! And I was so proud of them and of my plans to make my -little enterprise a success. - -February 7. Mrs. Burke came in this afternoon and came round my desk -and kissed me. "What is it, dear? What's the matter?" she said. "Won't -you tell _me_? Why, I feel as if you were my daughter. I did have a -daughter. She came first. Tom was so disappointed. But I was glad. A -son belongs to both his parents, and, when he's grown up, to his wife. -But a daughter--she would 'a' belonged to me always. And she had to up -and die just when she was about to make up her mind to talk." - -I put my face down in my arms on the desk. - -"Tired, dear?" said "ma"--she's a born "ma." "Of course, that's it. -You're clean pegged out, working and worrying. You must put it all -away and rest." And she sat down by me. - -All of a sudden--I couldn't help it--I put my head on her great, big -bosom and burst out crying. "Oh, I'm so _bad_!" I said. "And you're so -_good_!" - -She patted me and kissed me on top of my head. "What pretty, soft hair -you have, dear," she said, "and what a lot of it! My! My! I don't see -how anybody that looks like you do could ever be unhappy a minute. You -don't know what it means to be born homely and fat and to have to work -hard just to make people not object to having you about." And she went -on talking in that way until I was presently laughing, still against -that great, big bosom with the great, big heart beating under it. -When I felt that it would be a downright imposition to stay there any -longer I straightened up. I felt quite cheerful. - -"Was there something worrying you?" she asked. - -I blushed and hung my head. "Yes, but I can't tell you," said I. And I -couldn't--could I? Besides, there somehow doesn't seem to be much of -anything in all my brooding. What a nasty beast that Mrs. Tevis is! - -February 12. Mrs. Burke and I went to a reception at the Secretary -of State's this afternoon. We saw Nadeshda's sister in the -distance--that's where we've always seen her and the ambassador and -the whole embassy staff ever since the "bust-up," except funny little -De Pleyev. He, being of a mediatized family, does not need to disturb -himself about ambassadorial frowns or smiles. It's curious what a -strong resemblance there is between a foreigner of royal blood and a -straightaway American gentleman. But, as I was about to write, this -afternoon the distance between us and Madame l'Ambassadrice slowly -lessened, and when she was quite close to us she gave us a dazzling -smile apiece and said to Mrs. Burke: "My dear Madame Burke, you are -looking most charming. You must come to us to tea. To-morrow? Do say -yes--we've missed you so. My poor back--it almost shuts me out of the -world." And she passed on--probably didn't wish to risk the chance that -"ma's" puzzled look might give place to an expression of some kind of -anger and that she might make one of those frank speeches she's famous -for. - -"Well, did you _ever_!" exclaimed "ma" when the Countess was out of -earshot. - -I said warningly: "Everybody's seen it and is watching you." And it -was true. The whole crowd in those perfume-steeped rooms was gaping, -and the news had spread so quickly that a throng was pushing in from -the tea-room, some of them still chewing. - -Afterward we discussed it, and could come to but one conclusion--that -the Robert-Nadeshda crisis had passed. But--do the Daraganes think -that Nadeshda is safe from Robert, or have they decided to take him -in? Certainly, _something_ decisive has happened. And if Robert had -anything to do with it it must have been stirring enough to make the -Daraganes use the cable--how else could Nadeshda's sister have got her -cue so soon? - -February 15. No news whatever of Robert and Nadeshda. Yesterday the -ambassadress came here to tea and said to Mrs. Burke that she had had -a letter from Nadeshda in which she sent us all her love--"especially -your dear, splendid, big Monsieur Cyrus." Mr. and Mrs. Burke are to -dine at the embassy five weeks from to-night--the ambassadress insisted -on Mrs. Burke's giving her first free evening to her, and that was it. - -"I reckon we'll have to go," said "ma" after her departure, and while -the odor of her frightfully-powerful heliotrope scent was still heavy -in the room, "though I doubt if I'll be alive by then. Sometimes it -seems to me I've just got to knock off and take a clean week in bed. -I thought I'd never think of drugs to keep me going, as so many women -advise. But I see I'm getting round to it. And I'm getting _that_ fat -in the body and _that_ lean in the face! Did you ever see the like? I -must 'a' lost three pounds off my face. And the skin's hanging there -waiting for it to come back, instead of shrinking. I'm glad my Tom -never looks at me. I know to a certainty he ain't looked at me in -twenty years. Husbands and wives don't waste much time looking at each -other, and I guess it's a good, safe plan." - -Mrs. Burke does look badly. I must take better care of her. Cyrus looks -badly, too. I haven't seen him to talk to since he made his "strictly -business" proposition. I suppose he wants me to realize that he isn't -one of the pestering kind. I'm sorry he takes it that way, as I'd have -liked to be friends with him. He quarreled so beautifully when we -didn't agree. It's a great satisfaction to have some one at hand who -both agrees and quarrels in a satisfactory way. But I don't dare make -any advances to him. He might misunderstand. - -I've just been laughing--at his cowlick. It _is_ such an obstinate -little swirl. And when he looks serious it looks so funnily frisky, and -when he smiles it looks so fiercely serious and disapproving. Yesterday -I hurried suddenly into the little room just off the ball-room, -thinking it was empty. But Cyrus and his mother were there, and he -was tickling her, and he looked so fond of her, and she looked so -delighted. I slipped away without their seeing me. - -February 16. We gave our second big ball last night with a dinner for -sixty before. It was just half-past five this morning when the last -couple came sneaking out from the alcove off the little room beyond -the conservatory and, we pretending not to see them, scuttled away -without saying good night. Major-General Cutler danced with Mrs. -Burke in the opening quadrille, and Mr. Burke danced with the British -ambassadress--the ambassador is ill. I had Jim on my hands most of the -evening--though I was flirting desperately with little D'Estourelle, he -hung to me with a maddening husbandish air of proprietorship. I don't -see how I ever endured him, much less thought of marrying him. Cyrus -Burke is a king beside him. Excuse me from men who think the fact that -they've done a woman the honor of loving her gives them a property -right to her. Mrs. Burke was the belle of the ball. She had a crowd of -men round her chair all evening, laughing at everything she said. - -February 17. A cable from Robert Gunton at Hamburg this morning--just -"Arrive Washington about March 3." That was all--worse than nothing. -It is Lent, but there's no let up for us. We only get rid of the kind -of entertainments that cost us the least trouble to plan and give, and -we have to arrange more of the kind that have to be done carefully. -Anybody can give a dance, but it takes skill to give a successful -dinner. - -February 19. Nadeshda's sister said to-day, quite casually, to Jessie: -"Deshda's coming back, and we're so glad. The trip has done her _so_ -much good--in every way." Now, whatever did _that_ mean? - - - - -VI - - -February 26. No news of Robert and Nadeshda. Have been glancing through -this diary. How conceited I am, taking credit to myself for everything. -I wonder if I am vainer than most people, or does everybody make the -same ridiculous discovery about himself when he takes himself off his -guard? What an imperfect record this is of our launching. But then, if -I had made it perfect I should have had to go into so many wearisome -details, not to speak of my having so little time. Still, it would -have been interesting to read some day, when I shall have forgotten the -little steps--for although we've had in all only a month before the -season and five weeks between New Year's and Ash Wednesday, so much -has been crowded into that time. It's amazing what one can accomplish -if one uses every moment to a single purpose. And I've not only used -my own time, but Robert's and Jessie's and the time of their and my -friends, and that of Nadeshda and a dozen other people. They and I -all worked together to make my enterprise a success--and Jim and the -Senator, and "ma" Burke was a great help after the first few weeks. -Yes, and I mustn't forget Cyrus. He has made himself astonishingly -popular. I see now that he showed a better side to every one than he -did to me. Perhaps I can guess why. I wonder if he really cares or did -care--for me, or was it just "ma" trying to get me into the family, and -he willing to do anything she asked of him? - -But to go back to my vanity--I see that Jessie, Rachel and Cyrus -were the real cause of my success. Jessie and Rachel alone could -make anybody, who wasn't positively awful, a go. Then Nadeshda, bent -on marrying Cyrus at first, was a big help--and every mama with a -marriageable daughter was hot on Cyrus' trail. So it's easy to make -an infallible recipe for getting into society: First, wealth; second, -willingness to act on competent advice; third, get a "secretary" who -knows society and has intimate friends in its most exclusive set, -and who also knows how to arrange entertainments; fourth, have a -marriageable son, if possible, or, failing that, a daughter, or, -failing that, a near relative who will be well dowered; fifth, organize -the campaign thoroughly and pay particular attention to getting -yourself liked by the few people who really count. You can't bribe -them; you can't drive them; you must _amuse_ them. The more leisure -people have the harder it is to amuse them. - -Looking back, I can see that "ma" Burke passed her social crisis when, -on January 5, Mrs. Gaether asked her to assist at her reception. For -Mrs. Gaether was the first social power who took "ma" up simply and -solely because she liked her. - -We have spent a great deal of money, but not half what the Tevises have -spent. But our money counted because it was incidental. Mere money -won't carry any one very far in Washington--I don't believe it will -anywhere, except, perhaps, in New York. - -I ought to have kept some sort of record of what we've done from day -to day--I mean, more detailed than my books. However, I'll just put in -our last full day before Lent, as far as I can recall it. No, I'll only -write out what Mrs. Burke alone did that day: - -7:30 to 10. She and I, in her room, went over the arrangements for the -ball we were giving in the evening. - -10 to 12:30. She went to see half a dozen people about various social -matters, besides doing a great deal of shopping. - -12:30 to 1:45. More worrying consultation with me, then dressing for -luncheon. - -1:45 to 3:45. A long and tiresome luncheon at one of the embassies. - -3:45 to 6:30. More than twenty calls and teas--a succession of -exhausting rushes and struggles. - -6:30 to 7:15. In the drawing-room here, with a lot of people coming and -going. - -7:15 to 8. Dressing for dinner--a frightful rush. - -8 to 8:30. Receiving the dinner guests. - -8:30 to 10:45. The dinner. - -10:45 to midnight. Receiving the guests for the dance--on her feet all -the time. - -Midnight to 6 in the morning. Sitting, but incessantly busy. - -6 to 9. In bed. - -9. A new and crowded day. - -This has been a short season, but I don't think it was the shortness, -crowding much into a few days, that made the pressure so great. It's -simply that year by year Washington becomes socially worse and worse. -As I looked round at that last ball of ours I pitied the people who -were nerving themselves up to trying to enjoy themselves. - -Almost every one was, and looked, worn out. Here and there the -unnatural brightness of eyes or cheeks showed that somebody--usually a -young person--had been driven to some sort of stimulant to enable him -or her to hold the pace. Quick to laugh; quick to frown and bite the -lips in almost uncontrollable anger. Nerves on edge, flesh quivering. - -Yet, what is one to do? To be "in it" one must go all the time; not -to go all the time, not to accept all the principal invitations, is -to make enemies right and left. Besides, who that gets into the -hysterical state which the Washington season induces can be content to -sit quietly at home when on every side there are alluring opportunities -to enjoy? - -No wonder we see less and less of the men of importance. No wonder the -"sons of somebodies" and the young men of the embassies and legations -and departments, most of them amiable enough, but all just about as -near nothing as you would naturally expect, are the best the women can -get to their houses. - -It is foolish; it is frightful. But it is somehow fascinating, and it -gives us women the chance to go the same reckless American gait that -the men go in their business and professions. - -I am utterly worn out. I might be asleep at this moment. Yet I'm -sitting here alone, too feverish for hope of rest. And I can see -lights in Cyrus' apartment and in Senator Burke's sitting-room, and I -don't doubt poor "ma" is tossing miserably in a vain attempt to get the -sleep that used to come unasked and stay until it was fought off. - -It is Lent, and the season is supposed to be over. But the rush is -still on, and other things which crowd and jam in more than fill up the -vacant space left by big, formal parties. It seems to me that there is -even as much dancing as there was two weeks ago. The only difference is -that it isn't formally arranged for beforehand. - -I'd like to "shut off steam"--indeed, it seems to me that I must if -"ma" Burke is not to be sacrificed. But how can we? People expect us to -entertain, and we must go out to their affairs also. The only escape -would be to fly, and we can't do that so long as Congress is sitting. - -February 27. Robert and Nadeshda are both in town, he with us, she -at the embassy. They are to be married the twelfth of April. The -engagement is to be announced to-morrow. I've never seen any one more -demure than Nadeshda, or happier. I suspect she's going to settle down -into the most domestic of women. Indeed, I know it--for, as she says, -she's afraid of him, obeys him as a dog its master, and the domestic -side of her is the only one he'll tolerate. I've always heard that her -sort of woman is the tamest, once it's under control. She has will but -no continuity. He has a stronger will and his purposes are unalterable. -So he'll continue to dominate her. - -"Ma" Burke asked him, "How did you make out with her folks?" - -He smiled, then laughed. - -"I don't know--exactly," he said. "They couldn't talk my language nor -I theirs. So it was all done through an interpreter. And he was Mrs. -Dean's brother-in-law, Prince Glückstein, and a regular trump. He saw -them half a dozen times before I did. When I saw them everything was -lovely. They left me alone with her after twenty minutes. Finally it -was agreed that we should come back on the same steamer, her brother -accompanying her." - -"But why on earth didn't you cable us?" she demanded. - -"I did," he replied. - -"But you didn't tell us anything," she returned. - -"I told you all there was to tell," he replied. - -"You only said you were coming," she objected. - -"Well," he answered, looking somewhat surprised, "I knew you'd know I -wouldn't come without her." - -I'm glad he didn't get it into his head to "take after" me. A woman -stands no more chance with a man like that than a rabbit with a -greyhound. - -February 29. "Ma" Burke is dreadfully ill--has been for two days. The -doctors have got several large Latin names for it, but the plain truth -is that she has broken down under the strain she seemed to be bearing -so placidly. She didn't give up until she was absolutely unable to lift -herself out of bed. "I knew it was coming," she said, "but I thought I -had spirit enough to put it off till I had more time." - -It wasn't until she did give up that her face really showed how badly -off she was. I was sitting by her bed when "pa" Burke and Cyrus came -in. I couldn't bear to look at them, yet I couldn't keep my eyes off -their faces. Both got deadly white at sight of her, and "pa" rushed -from the room after a moment or two. The doctor had cautioned him -against alarming her by showing any signs of grief. But "pa" couldn't -stand it. He went to his study, and the housekeeper told me he cried -like a baby. Cyrus stayed, and I couldn't help admiring the way he put -on cheerfulness. - -"I'll be all right in a few days," said "ma." "It wasn't what I did; it -was what I et. I'm such a fool that I can't let things that look good -go by. And I went from house to house, munching away, cake here, candy -there, chocolate yonder, besides lunches and dinners and suppers. I et -in and I et out. Now, I reckon I've got to settle the bill. Thank the -Lord I don't have to do it standing up." - -Cyrus and I went away from her room together. "If she wasn't so good," -said he, more to himself than to me, "I'd not be so--so uncertain." - -"I feel that I'm to blame," said I bitterly. "It was I that gave her -all those things to do." - -He was silent, and his silence frightened me. I had felt that I was -partly to blame. His silence made me feel that I was wholly to blame, -and that he thought so. - -"If I could only undo it," I said, in what little voice I could muster. - -"If you only could," he muttered. - -I was utterly crushed. Every bit of my courage fled, and--but what's -the use of trying to describe it? It was as if I had tried to murder -her and had come to my senses and was realizing what I'd done. - -I suppose I must have shown what was in my mind, for, all of a sudden, -with a sort of sob or groan, he put his arms round me--such a strong -yet such a gentle clasp! "Don't look like that, dear!" he pleaded. -"Forgive me--it was cowardly, what I said--and not true. We're all to -blame--you the least. Haven't I seen, day after day, how you've done -everything you could to spare her--how you've worn yourself out?" - -He let me go as suddenly as he had seized me. - -"I'm not fit to be called a man!" he exclaimed. "Just because I loved -you, and was always thinking of you, and watching you, and worrying -about you, I neglected to think of mother. If I'd given her a single -thought I'd have known long ago that she was ill." - -Just then Mrs. Burke's maid called me--she was only a few yards away, -and must have seen everything. I hurried back to the room we had -quitted a few minutes before. "You must cheer up those two big, foolish -men, child," she said. "You all think I'm going to pass over, but I'm -not. You won't get rid of me for many a year. And I rely on you to -prevent them from going all to pieces." - -She paused and looked at me wistfully, as if she longed to say -something but was afraid she had no right to. I said: "What is it--ma?" - -Her face brightened. "Come, kiss me," she murmured. "Thank you for -saying that. We're very different in lots of ways, being raised so -different. But hearts have a way of finding each other, haven't they?" - -I nodded. - -"What I wanted to say was about--Cyrus," she went on. "My Cyrus told -me that he don't see how he could get along without you, no way, and -I advised him to talk to you about it, because I knew it'd relieve -his mind and because it'd set you to looking at him in a different -way. Anyhow, it's always a good plan to ask for what you want. And he -did--and he told me you wouldn't hear to him. Don't think I'm trying to -persuade you. All I meant to say is that--" - -She stopped and smiled, a bright shadow of that old, broad, beaming -smile of hers. - -"I'd do anything for you!" I exclaimed, on impulse. - -"I'm afraid that wouldn't suit Cyrus," she drawled, good humoredly. -"He'd be mad as the Old Scratch if he knew what I was up to now. -Well--do the best you can. But don't do anything unless it's for his -sake. Only--just look him over again. There's a lot to Cyrus besides -his cowlick. And he's been so dead in love with you ever since he first -saw you that he's been making a perfect fool of himself every time he -looked at you or spoke to you. Sometimes, when I've seen the way he's -acted up, like a farmhand waltzing in cowhides, I've felt like taking -him over my knees and laying it on good and hard." - -I was laughing so that I couldn't answer--the reaction from the fear -that she might be very, very ill had made me hysterical. I could still -see that she was sick, extremely sick, but I realized that our love for -her had just put us into a panic. - -"Do the best you can, dear," she ended. "And everything--all the -entertaining here and the going out--must be kept up just the same -as if I was being dragged about down stairs instead of lying up here -resting." - -She insisted on this, and would not be content until she had my -promise. "And don't forget to cheer pa and Cyrus up. I never was sick -before--not a day. That's why they take on so." - -I think I have been succeeding in cheering them up. And everything is -going forward as before--except, of course, that we've cut out every -engagement we possibly could. - -It's amazing how many friends "ma" Burke has made in such a short -time. Ever since the news of her illness got out, the front door has -been opening and shutting all day long. And those of the callers that -I've seen have shown a real interest. This has made me have a better -opinion of human nature than I had thought I could have. I suppose -half the seeming heartlessness in this world is suspicion and a sort -of miserly dread lest one should give kindly feeling without getting -any of it in return. But "ma" Burke, who never bothers her head for an -instant about whether people like her, and gets all her pleasure out of -liking them, makes friends by the score. - -I'm in a queer state of mind about Cyrus. - -March 3. "Ma" Burke was brought down to the drawing-room for tea -to-day. She held a regular levee. Those that came early spread it -round, and by six o'clock they were pouring in. She looked extremely -well, and gloriously happy. All she had needed was complete rest and -sleep--and less to eat. "After this," she said, "I'm not going to eat -more than four or five meals a day. At my age a woman can't stand the -strain of ten and twelve--my record was sixteen--counting two teas -as one meal." For an hour there was hilarious chattering in English, -French, German, Italian, Russian, and mixtures of all five. I think -the thing that most fascinates Mrs. Burke about Washington is the many -languages spoken. She looks at me in an awed way when I trot out my -three in quick succession. And she regards the women as superhuman who -speak so many languages so fluently that they drift from one to the -other without being quite sure what they're speaking. There certainly -were enough going on at once to-day, and a good many of the women -smoked. - -But to return to Mrs. Burke. When only a few of those we know best were -left this afternoon, and Nadeshda was smoking, Jessie, who is always -so tactful, said to Robert: "I'm glad to see that you don't object to -Nadeshda's smoking." - -Mrs. Burke laughed. "Why should he?" said she. "Why, when we were -children ma and pa used to sit on opposite sides of the chimney, -smoking their pipes. And ma dipped, too, when it wasn't convenient for -her to have her pipe." - -"Do _you_ smoke, Mrs. Burke?" asked Jessie, with wide, serious eyes. "I -never saw you." - -"No, I don't," she confessed. "Tom used to hate the smell of it, so I -never got into the habit." - -Nadeshda was tremendously amused by what Mrs. Burke had said about -pipes. "I didn't know it was considered nice for a lady to smoke in -America until recently," said she. "And pipes! How eccentric! Mama -smokes cigars--one after dinner, but I never heard of a lady smoking a -pipe." - -"Ma wasn't a lady--what _you'd_ call a lady," replied Mrs. Burke. "She -was just a plain woman. She didn't smoke because she thought it was -fashionable, but because she thought it was comfortable. As soon as we -children got a little older we used to be terribly ashamed of it--but -_she_ kept right on. And now it's come in style." - -"Not _pipes_," said Jessie. - -"Not _yet_," said "ma," with a smile. - -When I thought they had all gone, and I was writing in my "office" for -a few minutes before going up to dress, Nadeshda came in to me. "Ma" -Burke used often to say that Nadeshda's eyes were "full of the Old -Scratch," but certainly they were not at that moment. She was giving -me a glimpse of that side which, as Browning, I think, says, even the -meanest creature has and shows only to the person he or she loves. Not -that Nadeshda loves me, but she has that side turned outermost nowadays -whenever she hasn't the veil drawn completely over her real self. - -"My dear," she said in French, "what is it? Why these little smiles all -afternoon whenever you forgot where you were?" - -I couldn't help blushing. "I don't quite know, myself," I replied--and -it was so. - -"Oh, you cold, cold, _cold_ Americans!"--then she paused and gave me -one of her strange smiles, with her eyes elongated and her lips just -parted--"I mean, you American women." - -"Cold, because we don't set ourselves on fire?" I inquired. - -"But yes," she answered, "yourselves, and the men, too. Never mind. I -shall not peep into your little secret." She laughed. "It always chills -me to grope round in one of your cold American women's hearts." - -"I wish you could tell me what my secret is--and that's the plain -truth," said I. - -She laughed again, shrugged her shoulders, pinched my cheek, nodded -her head until her big plumed hat was all in a quiver and was shaking -out volumes of the strong, heavy perfume she uses. And without saying -anything more she went away. - -March 4. Cyrus and I sat next each other at dinner at the Secretary -of War's to-night. It has happened several times this winter, as the -precedence is often very difficult to arrange at small dinners. Old -Alex Bartlett took me in, and as he's stone deaf and a monstrous eater -I was free. - -Cyrus had taken in a silent little girl who has just come out. She had -exhausted her little line of prearranged conversation before the fish -was taken away. So Cyrus talked to me. - -"She's grateful for my letting her alone," said he when I tried to turn -him back to his duty. "Besides, if I didn't meet you out once in a -while you'd forget me entirely. And I don't want that, if I can avoid -it." - -"Thank you," said I, for lack of anything else to say, and with not -the remotest intention of irritating him. But he flushed scarlet, and -frowned. - -"You always and deliberately misconstrue everything I say," said he -bitterly. "I know I'm unfortunate in trying to express myself to you, -but why do you never attribute to me anything but the worst intentions?" - -"And why should you assume that every careless reply I make is a -carefully thought out attack on you?" I retorted. "Don't you think your -vanity makes you morbid?" - -"You know perfectly well that it isn't vanity that makes me think you -especially dislike me," said he. - -"But I don't," I answered. "I confess I did at first, but not since -I've come to know you better." - -"Why did you dislike me at first?" he asked. "You began on me with -almost the first moment of our acquaintance." - -"That's true--I did," I admitted. "I had a reason for it--didn't -Nadeshda tell you what it was?" - -He looked frightened. - -"Be frank, if you want me to be frank," said I. - -"I never for an instant believed what she said," he replied abjectly. -Then after a warning look from me, he added--"_Really_ believed it, I -mean." - -"And what was it that you didn't really believe?" I demanded. - -He looked at me boldly. "Nadeshda and one or two others told me that -you and your friends had arranged it for me to marry you. But, of -course, I knew it wasn't so." - -"But it was so," I replied. "You were one of the considerations that -determined my friends in trying to get me my place." - -"Well--and why didn't you take me when I finally fell into the trap?" - -I let him see I was laughing at him. - -He scowled--his cowlick did look so funny that I longed to pull it. -"Simply couldn't stand me--not even for the sake of what I brought," he -said. And then he gave me a straight, searching look. "I wonder why I -don't hate you," he went on. "I wonder why I am such an ass as to care -for you. Yes--even if I knew you didn't care for me, still I'd want -you. Can a man make a more degrading confession than that?" - -"But why?" said I, very careful not to let him see how eagerly I -longed to hear him say _the_ words again. "Why should you want--me?" - -He gave a very unpleasant laugh. "If you think I'm going to sit -here and exhibit my feelings for your amusement you're going to be -disappointed. It's none of your business _why_. Certainly not because I -find anything sweet or amiable or even kind in you." - -"That's rude," said I. - -"It was intended to be," said he. - -"Please--let's not quarrel now," said I coldly. "It gives me the -headache to quarrel during dinner." - -And he answered between his set teeth, "To quarrel with -you--anywhere--gives me--the heartache, Gus." - -I had no answer for that, nor should I have had the voice to utter it -if I had had it. And then Mr. Bartlett began prosing to me about the -Greeley-Grant campaign. And when the men came to join the women after -dinner Cyrus went away almost immediately. - -I am _so_ happy to-night. - -March 5. Cyrus came to me in my office to-day--as I had expected. But -instead of looking woebegone and abject, he was radiant. He shut the -door behind him. "_You_--guilty of cowardice," he began. "It isn't -strange that I never suspected it." - -"What do you mean?" I asked, not putting down my pen. - -He came over and took it out of my fingers, then he took my fingers and -kissed them, one by one. I was so astounded--and something else--that I -made not the slightest resistance. "It's useless for you to cry out," -he said, "for I've got the outer door well guarded." - -[Illustration] - -I started up aflame with indignation. "Who--whom--" I began. - -"Ma," he replied. - -"Oh!" I exclaimed, looking round with a wild idea of making a dart for -liberty. - -"Ma," he repeated, "and it's not of the slightest use for you to try -to side-step. You're cornered." He had both my hands now and was -looking at me at arm's length. "So you are afraid to marry me for fear -people--your friends--will say that--I walked right into the trap?" - -I hung my head and couldn't keep from trembling, I was so ashamed. - -"And if it wasn't for that you'd accept my 'proposition'--now--wouldn't -you?" - -"I would not," I replied, wrenching myself away with an effort that -put my hair topsy-turvy--it always does try to come down if I make a -sudden movement, and I washed it only yesterday. - -"What gorgeous hair you have!" he said. "Sometimes I've caught a -glimpse of it just as I was entering a room--and I've had to retreat -and compose myself to make a fresh try." - -"You've been talking to your mother!" I exclaimed--I'd been casting -about for an explanation of all this sudden shrewdness of his in ways -feminine. - -"I have," said he. "It's as important to her as to me that you don't -escape." - -"And she told you that I was in love with _you_!" I tried to put a -little--not too much--scorn into the "you." - -"She did," he answered. "Do you deny that it's true?" - -"I have told you I would never accept your 'proposition,'" was my -answer. - -"So you did," said he. "Then you mean that you're going to sacrifice -my mother's happiness and mine, simply because you're afraid of being -accused of mercenary motives?" - -"I shall never accept your 'proposition,'" I repeated, with a faint -smile that was a plain hint. - -He came very close to me and looked down into my face. "What do you -mean by that?" he demanded. And then he must have remembered what -his proposition was--a strictly business arrangement on both sides. -For, with a sort of gasp of relief, he took me in his arms. I do love -the combination of strength and tenderness in a man. He had looked -and talked and been so strong up to that instant. Then he was _so_ -tender--I could hardly keep back the tears. - -"Wouldn't you like me to tell mother?" he asked. "She's just in the -next room--and--" - -I nodded and said, "I never should have caught you if it hadn't been -for her." - -"Nor I you," said he. And he put me in a chair and opened the door. I -somehow couldn't look up, though I knew she was there. - -"I don't know whether to laugh or cry," said "ma" Burke. "So I guess -I'll just do both." And then she seated herself and was as good as her -word. - -[Illustration] - - - - -TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: - - Text in italics is surrounded with underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Social Secretary, by David Graham Phillips - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOCIAL SECRETARY *** - -***** This file should be named 55719-8.txt or 55719-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/7/1/55719/ - -Produced by David E. 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