"I don't think a man--a _sensible_ man--looking for a wife for his home and a mother for his children would want a girl who'd been 'competing' in Washington society," she answered. "I don't at all approve the way American girls are brought up, anyway--it's entirely too free and destructive of the innocence that is a woman's chief charm. And as for turning the young girls loose in Washington!" Mrs. Fortescue threw up her hands. "It's simply madness. Most of the men are foreigners, accustomed to meet only married women in society. They don't know how to take a young girl, and they don't understand this American freedom. The wonder to me is that we don't have a regular cataclysm every season. Now, I never permit Mildred to go _anywhere_ without me or some other _real_ chaperon. And I know that her mind is like a fresh rose-leaf." Cyrus and I exchanged a covert glance of amusement. Mildred Fortescue is a very nice, sweet girl, but--well, she does fool her mother scandalously. "I should think a man would positively be _afraid_ to marry the ordinary Washington society girl who knows everything that she shouldn't and nothing that she should." "Perhaps that's what makes them so irresistible," said Cyrus. "Irresistible to flirt with and to _flaner_ about with," said Mrs. Fortescue reproachfully. "But I'm sure you wouldn't marry one of them, Mr. Burke." "Oh, I don't know," he answered. "No doubt it does spoil a good many, being so free and associating with experienced men who've been brought up in a very different way. But"--he hesitated and blushed uncomfortably--"it seems to me that those who do come through all right are about the best anywhere. If a girl has any really bad qualities anywhere in her they come out here. And if a Washington girl does marry a man--for himself--and I rather think they make marriages of the heart more than most girls in the same sort of society in other cities--don't you, Miss Talltowers?" "It may be so," I replied. "But probably they're much like girls--and men--everywhere. They make marriages of the heart if they get the chance. And if nobody happens along in the marrying mood who is able to appeal to their hearts, they select the most eligible among the agreeable ones they can get. I think many a girl has been branded as mercenary when in reality the rich man she chose was neither more nor less agreeable than the poor man she rejected, and she only had choice among men she didn't especially care about."