"If you will glance at yonder table you can see that Miss Burton has already so absorbed him that he has eyes for no one else." "They have jolly good times at that table. I wish we were there." "Indeed! are you bewitched also? I can't see what it is that people find so attractive in that plain-looking girl." "Well, for one thing, she has a mind. Beauty without mind is like salad without dressing." "And do you mean to say that I have no mind?" Ida asked, with a sudden flush. "My dear Coz, we were speaking solely of Miss Burton. Indeed, I think you have a very decided will of your own." "I understand you. Well, in what other respects is Miss Burton my superior?" "I doubt if Miss Burton ever thinks of herself as superior to any one, and that's another very amiable trait in her." "Can you not sum up her perfections a little more rapidly? Life is short," remarked Ida, acidly. "Come, Coz, let me get you some sweet-oil before you finish your supper. You know you are the handsomest girl in the State, and that's distinction enough for one woman. To you, Miss Burton is only a plain school-teacher. Why should you envy her?" "I do not envy her, nor can I see why people are so carried away with her." "It IS remarkable to see what an impression she has made in two brief days. Of course her courage in saving the child served as a general and favorable introduction, but it does not by any means explain her growing popularity. For some reason or other those about her always seem to be having a good time. See how animated and pleased is the expression of all the faces at her table yonder. It was the same on the croquet-ground this morning. She effervesced like champagne, and before we knew it we were all in a state of exhilaration and the morning had gone." "I hate these bold, forward women who are quick to become acquainted with every one. A man of this type is bad enough, but a woman is unendurable." "I agree with you in the abstract most heartily; but the only bold thing that I have seen Miss Burton do was to run under the feet of my horses. You might as well call a ray of sunshine bold and forward; and people like sunshine when it is as nicely tempered as her manner is. I confess that when I first learned who she was, and before I had met her personally, I was greatly prejudiced against her, but one would have to be a churl indeed to remain proof against her genial good-nature. For my part I intend to enjoy it, as I do all the other good things the gods throw in my way." "The gods would indeed be careless to leave any good things within your reach, unless they were meant for you," snapped Ida. "Good for you, Coz; your ride with Van Berg has already brightened you up. There is no telling what you might not become if you would only associate with men who had sufficient brains not to grow spooney over your pretty face." As Ida and her mother passed out on the piazza, Van Berg joined them and said: