“Of course I had advantages that I am grateful for, but I have a theory that it is never too late to begin. And you are so young--a few months of our professor--are you really ambitious?” “You bet.” Ida committed herself no further at the moment. “Then you will enjoy study--expanding and furnishing your mind. It is a wonderful sensation!” Mrs. Blake’s eyes were flashing now, her mouth was soft, her strong little chin with that cleft which always suggests a whirlpool, was lifted as if she were drinking. “The moment you are conscious that you are using the magic keys to the great storehouses of the world, its arts, its sciences, its records of the past--when you begin to help yourself with both hands and pack it away in your memory--always something new--when you realise that the store is inexhaustible--that in study at least there is no ennui--Oh, I can give you no idea of what it all means--you will find it out for yourself!” “Jimminy!” thought Ida. “I guess not! But that ain’t where her charm for men comes from, you bet!” Aloud she said, with awe in her voice: “No wonder you know so much when you like it like that. But don’t it make you--well--kinder lonesome?” “Sometimes--lately----” Mrs. Blake pulled herself up with a deep blush. “It has meant everything to me, that mental life, and it always shall!” The astute Ida noted the defiant ring in her voice, and plunged in. “I wonder now? Say, you’re a pretty woman and a young one, and they say men would go head over ears about you if you’d give ’em a show. You’ve got a busy husband and so have I. Husbands don’t companion much and you can’t make me believe learning’s all. Don’t you wish these American Turks of husbands would let us have a man friend occasionally? They say that in high society in the East and in Europe, the women have all the men come to call on them afternoons they like, but the ordinary American husband, and particularly out West--Lord! When a woman has a man call on her, she’s about ready to split with her husband--belongs to the fast set--and he’s quail hunting somewheres else. Of course I’ve known Mark all my life--and you who was--were brought up in the real world--it must be awful hard on you. Wouldn’t you like to try your power once in a while, see how far you could go--just for fun? I guess you’re not shocked?” “No, I’m not shocked,” said Ora, laughing. “But I don’t believe men interest me very much in that way--although, heaven knows, there are few more delightful sensations than talking to a man who makes you feel as if your brain were on fire. I don’t think I care to have American men, at least, become interested in me in any other way. In Europe----” She hesitated, and Ida leaned forward eagerly. “Oh, do tell me, Mrs. Blake! I don’t know a blamed thing. I’ve never been outside of Montana.”