“I don’t exactly remember, my dear, but it was something clever and adroit. I know he retired very gracefully, and bore me no malice. He has been very kind to me always, and I am said to be his favorite of all his nephews’ wives. He is really a dear old boy, and quite worthy of all the adulation he receives, if only they wouldn’t put it on the ground of ancestry. Why, the founder of the family was engaged in some sort of haberdashery business in London! It’s odd, the inconsistencies one meets with! But I’m inured to it all now, and have learned to pose as a Gaston, like the rest of them! But what I wanted particularly to tell you, and what it concerns you to know is, that the Gastons--Edward and Louis as well as the others--are greatly prejudiced against Southerners. That was one reason why I asked you here.” “It may make matters very difficult for me,” said Margaret, smiling. “Not in the least, my dear. You have only to be yourself, assuming nothing. I feel a delightful security in letting matters take their course. You will know perfectly what to do, and I think nothing could be more inspiring than forcing people to abandon foolish prejudices. I should not be sorry to have your chance myself.” “Surely, the same opportunity must once have been yours.” “Oh no, they won’t accord me that for a moment. They say, with truth, that merely to have been born in the South does not make me a Southerner, and that, having spent as much time in the North--and, for that matter, the East and West--as in the South, I must be set down as a cosmopolitan.” “I am almost surprised to hear you say they are prejudiced,” said Margaret; “I should suppose they were too intelligent for that.” “Just what I’ve always said. For my part, I haven’t an atom of prejudice in my composition. It is unworthy of enlightened human beings, and so I tell Edward and Louis.” “And what do they say?” “Oh, that they are not prejudiced, of course. Denial is the only answer such people can give. But, for all that, they are. I think Northern people, as a rule, are more prejudiced than Southerners.” “They must go great lengths, if they are,” said Margaret; “but I am not speaking of the more enlightened ones, and I have always supposed that the existence of such feelings in Bassett was due to the fact that it is such a small place, and so shut off from contact with the world. And then, too, I think much of it is to be attributed to the fact that those poor people suffered so terribly by the war.” “Exactly. I often tell Edward and Louis that they are so much less justifiable, because they were the victors. I’m sure _I_ feel it a very easy thing to be magnanimous toward a person I’ve got the better of. But I’ve long since ceased to apply arguments to a prejudice. Finding they did not answer, I thought a practical illustration might.” A moment’s silence ensued, which Margaret presently broke by saying: “Is Mr. Louis Gaston younger or older than your husband?”