"For nothin' at all, neither," he was wont to say. "O' course she ain't got strength enough to hurt a skeeter, an' her dress is so tight she don't dass put on any steam for fear she'll bust it, but she'd lam you good if she knew how! Matt Milliken will be toein' the mark himself by fall, an' I won't have to lug any more o' his flowers to the next teacher, that's one good thing!" Undine prepared herself for bed that night with a trifle more care than usual, punctuating each move in the operation by long studies of her charming self in the looking-glass, which was of poor quality and never did her entire justice. Her hair was the first subject of admiration, as she brushed the golden mop and held it up to glow in the full light of her kerosene lamp. "It might land me 'most anywheres, my hair," she thought, "even in the moving pictures. They say a star can get along without any talent if she has the right kind of hair and wears her clothes well. I never had a chance to try on handsome dresses, but I guess my shape is as good as any of the stars I've seen. And my face wouldn't need any smoothing out nor touching up, for it's worrying that makes wrinkles, and I never was a worrier. Let other folks do the worrying, is my motto." Undine, as she looked admiringly at her hair and skin and figure with the aid of a hand mirror, never once discovered that her nose was just the least little bit inclined to be flat. Her lips were red, but the line of her mouth had no lovable, generous curves. Her eyes were so blue that they rivaled sapphires, but they never suffused with tears, nor danced with merry sparkles of fun, nor looked deep, deep into other eyes, revealing all sorts of true, tender, unspeakable things. No, her eyes were a magnificent color and would last her to a good old age, but she would never see visions with them. Nevertheless there was something in Matthew Milliken's personality that threatened the heretofore dominating influence of life, as it was lived in moving pictures. His youthful strength and manly presence stirred her heart just a trifle, and also his obvious passion for her had its effect.