“Well--I was afraid that what I want to say most might sound as if I was drummin’ up trade, and the Lord knows I’ve got more to do than I could manage if there was ten days in every week. I turned down two ladies today to come here. I never shampoo the day of a ball.” “My dear Miss Miller! You are an artist, and like all artists, you not only aim at perfection yourself but your eyes and fingers ache at imperfection. I suppose an author rewrites sentences as he reads them, and painters must long to repaint every picture they see. As for you--we are your page and canvas, and naturally we have the good fortune to interest you.” “That’s it!” cried Miss Ruby, glowing. “That’s the size of it, only I couldn’t ever say it like that. Well, now, if you want this skin to look like a complexion and not like a hide, I’ve got to give you a massage every third day for quite a while. It not only needs creams and cold applications--hot only once in a while--but an awful lot of hand massage. It’s all run down and needs stimulating the worst way. Another year and you’d be havin’ lines. You can’t leave yourself to nature up here. She’s in too great a hurry to take back what she gave. And you must cut out hot breads and trash and wear a veil when you go out in the sun and wind. And you go to Boulder Springs once a week and take a vapour bath.” “But I’ll always look washed-out.” “Not if you look fresh, and wear colours that suit you.” “And I never was called a beauty. That man, whoever he was, merely remembered the usual prettiness of youth. Every young girl is pretty unless she is ugly.” “Well, I guess you didn’t take enough pains to make people think you were a beauty. Some--Ida Compton, for instance--don’t need to do anything but just show themselves. Any fool--particularly a man--can see black hair and red and white skin, and meltin’ eyes, and lashes a yard long, and a dashin’ figure. But odd and refined types like you--well, you’ve got to help it out.” “How very interesting! Do you mean I must go about telling people that I am really beautiful, if they will only look at me long enough? Or--possibly--do you mean that I should make up?”