Arthur Weston had seen that same flash in Fred's eyes. ("How young she is!" he thought.) But her sister was plainly shocked. "Oh, my _dear_ Eliza!" she expostulated. "I am not drawn to Mrs. Holmes myself, but--" "Neither is Fred drawn to her," Weston interrupted; "and she is so sincere that she shows her feelings. The rest of us don't. That's the only difference." "It is a very large difference," Miss Graham said; "this matter of showing one's feelings is as apt to mean cruelty as sincerity. It's the reason the child has no charm." "I think she has charm," he said, frowning. There was a startled silence; then Miss Eliza said, heartily: "Don't worry about her! Just now she thinks it's smart to put her thumb to her nose and twiddle her fingers at Life--but she'll settle down and be a dear child!" Miss Mary shook her head. "If I were a friend of the young lady, I should worry very much. Maria Spencer called on us yesterday, and told us a most unpleasant story about her. She spent the night at an inn with this same young man that she smoked with here. Oh, an accident, of course; but--" "Miss Spencer is the town scavenger," Weston said, angrily. Miss Mary did not notice the interruption. "I cannot help remarking that I do not think that such a young woman would make any man happy." ("It was difficult to bring the remark in," she told her sister, afterward; "but I felt it my duty.") "The man who gets Fred will be a lucky fellow," her cousin declared. "You know her very well, I infer," Miss Mary murmured. "I observe you use her first name." "Oh, very well! And I knew her father before her. But the use of the first name is one of the new customs. Everybody calls everybody else by their first name. Queer custom." "_Very_ queer," said Miss Mary. "Very sensible!" said Miss Eliza. "Ah, well, we must just accept the fact that girls are not brought up as they were when--when we were young"--Arthur Weston paused, but no one corrected that "we." He sighed, and went on: "The tide of new ideas is sweeping away a lot of the old landmarks; myself, I think it is better for some of them to go. For instance, the freedom nowadays in the relations of boys and girls makes for a straightforwardness that is rather fine." "Well," said Miss Mary, "I don't like what you call 'new ideas.' 'New' things shock me very much." "I'm rather shocked, myself, once in a while," he agreed, good-naturedly. "What will you do, Mary, when the 'new' heaven and the 'new' earth come along?" Miss Eliza demanded. The younger sister lifted disapproving hands. "As for the girls smoking," Weston said, "I don't like it any better than you do. In fact, I dislike it. But my dislike is æsthetic, not ethical." "I hope you don't think smoking is a sign of the 'new' heaven," Miss Mary said;--but her sister's aside--"the Other Place, more likely!"--disconcerted her so much that for a moment she was silenced.