"For you, Ken!" The crash unsettled Raymond and he brought his free foot to the floor. "Oh! come," he blurted; "don't begin that sort of rubbish, Aunt Emily. I thought you were above that." "I'm not, Ken. I would go slow if I dared, but this girl will be snapped up before we get in touch with her, unless we act quick." "Aunt Emily! For heaven's sake, is the girl hanging about open-mouthed for the first hook tossed to her?" "No. But, Ken, she is the kind that men want--the kind they hold sacred in their souls and hardly dare hope ever to see in the flesh. The girl made me want to grab her. I remember as a child she was charming--she's a perfect, but very human, woman now." With this Mrs. Tweksbury dilated upon what Doris had confided of Nancy's loyal and devoted life. "You see, Ken," Mrs. Tweksbury ran on, "the girl is like a rare thing that you cannot debate much about, and once lost, the opportunity will never come again. I've gone off about her, Ken." "I should say you had! Will you smoke, Aunt Emily?" "Yes!" To see Emily Tweksbury smoke was about as incongruous as to see an antique remodelled to bring it up to date; but the smoke calmed her. "You will call with me upon her, won't you, Ken?" "With pleasure." Raymond felt that any compromise would be well to offer. "I'll do my best by her, too, Aunt Emily. I rather shy at perfect types; girls, at the best, make me skittish. They make me think of myself and then I get gawky." "You'll forget yourself when you see Nancy Thornton." "Nancy--queer old name for a modern girl!" The two puffed away like old cronies--Raymond had got into a chair now and Mrs. Tweksbury had relaxed, also. "She isn't modern!" "No? What then, Aunt Emily?" "Ken, she's just woman. She appears just once so often, like a prophet or something, that keeps your faith alive. She's the kind that the Bible calls 'blessed,' and if she didn't reappear now and then I think the race would perish." "Ugh!" grunted Raymond. Then added: "Calm down, Aunt Emily, go slow. When you lose your head you're apt to buck." Mrs. Tweksbury laughed at this and helped herself to another cigarette. It was a week later that Raymond met Nancy at his aunt's dinner table. He knew she was coming. At least he thought he knew--but when he saw her he felt that he had not expected her at all. It was a small party: Doris Fletcher, Doctor Martin, young Doctor Cameron, and Nancy. Nancy came into the dim old drawing room behind young Cameron. It was that fact that attracted Raymond first. He recalled what Mrs. Tweksbury had said about the type being the ideal of man--or something like that--and Cameron, whom he had just met a few weeks before, had apparently got into action. After Nancy came Doctor Martin--it was as if the male element surrounded the girl.