"The second is _my_ half," said Bertha. "Later, she discovered our real names, and the fact that--shall I say that Miss Jessup knew them, and thought them worthy of mention in the 'Wabash Times'? That would, perhaps, be a good way of putting it. Then she called, but did not see me, as I was out. We did not meet again until this afternoon. I was making the Cabinet calls, and had the pleasure of encountering her at the house of the Secretary of War. Perhaps Miss Jessup had sent her a copy of the 'Wabash Times' yesterday, with the society column marked--I don't know. But she was pleased to approach me. I received her advances with the mild consideration of one who sees a mistake made, but is prevented by an amiable delicacy from correcting it, and observing this, she was led into the indiscretion of saying, with graceful leniency, that she feared I did not know her. I think it is really there that my half begins. I smiled with flattering incredulity, and said, 'That would be very strange in a Washingtonian.' "'When you called'--she began. "I looked at her with a blush, as of slight embarrassment, which seemed to disturb her. "'You have not forgotten that you called?' she remarked, chillingly. "'It would have been impossible for me to forget anything so agreeable,' I said, as though in delicately eager apology. 'I am most unlucky. It was some more fortunate person.' "'But,' she said, 'I returned the visit.' "'I received your card,' I replied, smiling ingenuously into her eyes, 'and it reminded me of my delinquency. Of course I knew it was a mistake.' "And after I had smiled into her eyes for a second or so longer, she began to understand, and I think by this time it is quite clear to her." "There must be a moral to that," commented Tredennis. "There is," she responded, with serene readiness. "A useful one. It is this: It is always safe--in Washington--to be civil to the respectably clad. If the exigencies of public position demand that you receive, not the people you wish to see, or the people who wish to see you, but the respectably clad, it is well to deal in glittering generalities of good manners, and even--if you choose to go so far--good feeling. There are numbers of socially besieged women in Washington who actually put the good feeling first; but the Government cannot insist on that, you know, so it remains a matter of taste." "If you could draw the line"--began Richard. "There is no line," said Bertha, "so you can't draw it. And it was not myself I avenged this afternoon, but--the respectably clad." "And before she became an astonished American," put in Arbuthnot, "this mistaken person was possibly"-- Bertha interposed, with a pretty gesture which set all the bangles jingling.