But he isn’t dark enough. MRS. ROOT And is _that_ the only thing against it! I had thought you would be a help to me, mother. GRANDMOTHER Well, my dear Clara, I have no doubt I will be a help to you--in time. This idea of Peyton becoming a gypsy is too startling for me to be a help instantly. In the first place, could he be? You can’t be anything you take it into your head to be--even if it is undesirable. And then, why should he be? Doesn’t he still teach English right here in the university? MRS. ROOT I don’t know how much longer he’ll teach it. He said the other day that American literature was a toddy with the _stick_ left out. Saying that of the very thing he’s paid to teach! It got in the papers and was denounced in an editorial on “Untrue Americans.” Peyton--a descendant of John Peyton of Valley Forge! [_Indicates the Revolutionary portrait_]--denounced in an article on Untrue Americans! And in one of those awful columns--those silly columns--they said maybe the stick hadn’t been left out of his toddy. But it isn’t that. Peyton doesn’t drink--to speak of. It’s this girl. _She’s_ the stick. And I tell you people don’t like it, mother. It’s not what we pay our professors _for_. Peyton used to be perfectly satisfied with civilization. But now he talks about society. Makes light remarks. GRANDMOTHER I should say that was going out of his way to be disagreeable. What business has a professor of English to say anything about society? It’s not in his department. MRS. ROOT I told Peyton he should be more systematic. GRANDMOTHER How did this gypsy get here? MRS. ROOT She was brought up by a family named Mason. But it seems she was a gypsy child, who got lost or something, and those Masons took her in. I’m sure it was very good of them, and it’s too bad they weren’t able to make her more of a Christian. She is coming to have a following in the university! There are people who seem to think that because you’re outside society you have some superior information about it. GRANDMOTHER Well, don’t you think you’re needlessly disturbed? In my day, a young man would be likely enough to fall in love with a good-looking gypsy, not very likely to marry her. MRS. ROOT Times have changed, mother. They marry them now. [_Both sigh._] Of course, it’s very commendable of them. GRANDMOTHER [_Grimly._] Oh, quite--commendable. MRS. ROOT I was brought up in university circles. I’m interested in _ideas_. But sometimes I think there are too _many_ ideas. GRANDMOTHER An embarrassment of riches. So you have set out to civilize the young woman? MRS. ROOT I’d rather have her sit at my table than have my son leave some morning in a covered wagon! GRANDMOTHER I wonder how it is about gypsies. About the children. I wonder if it’s as it is with the negroes. MRS. ROOT _Mother!_ GRANDMOTHER It would be startling, wouldn’t it?--if one of them should turn out to be a real gypsy and take to this open road. MRS. ROOT [_Covering her face._] Oh!