However, the best description of this young lady was the invention of an ingenious youth dwelling on the southern shores of Lake Michigan.—’Carry Hodson,’ he observed on one occasion, ’is just a real good fellow, that’s what she is.’ It was a happy phrase, and it soon became popular among the young gentlemen who wore English hats and vied with each other in driving phantom vehicles behind long-stepping horses. ’Carry Hodson?—she’s just the best fellow going,’ they would assure you. And how better can one describe her? There was a kind of frank _camaraderie_ about her; and she liked amusement, and was easily amused; and she laboured under no desire at all of showing herself ’bright’—which chiefly reveals itself in impertinence; but, above all, there was in her composition not a trace of alarm over her relations, however frank and friendly, with the other sex; she could talk to any man—old or young, married or single—positively without wondering when he was about to begin to make love to her. For one thing, she was quite capable of looking after herself; for another, the very charm of her manner—the delightful openness and straightforwardness of it—seemed to drive flirtation and sham sentiment forthwith out of court. And if, when those young gentlemen in Chicago called Miss Carry Hodson ’a real good fellow,’ they could not help remembering at the same time that she was an exceedingly pretty girl, perhaps they appreciated so highly the privilege of being on good-comrade terms with her that they were content to remain there rather than risk everything by seeking for more. However, that need not be discussed further here. People did say, indeed, that Mr. John C. Huysen, the editor of the _Chicago Citizen_, was more than likely to carry off the pretty heiress; if there was any truth in the rumour, at all events Miss Carry Hodson remained just as frank and free and agreeable with everybody—especially with young men who could propose expeditions and amusements.