Brounker-Courtfield seemed so human and not touchy I asked her why a number
of the New York men did not appear to have caught the same appearance of
wonderful refinement and breeding, and she said because the sort of life a
man leads makes him look what he does far more than blood, and that the few
that lived the life of English gentlemen looked like them, just as the rest
who live the life of our city clerks look like them, minus our City clerks'
Saturday interest in sport, and plus the cocktail. And this must be true,
Mamma, because Mr. Renour, who was what all these people would call a rough
Westerner, and would probably not speak to (until he became a trillionaire
of course) was a nature's gentleman and looked out-door and hard; and if he
had been dressed by Mr. Davis, and his hair cut by Mr. Charles, would have
been as good looking as anyone in the world.

These "reasons why" do interest me so much, and I am always collecting
them. But I must get back to what happened at lunch. I heard it from
Octavia afterwards, who made a fearful bêtise.

We had met the new Mrs. Busfield the day before but had not been told a
word of the story, so Octavia being vaguely aware that there were two
brothers Busfield, thought this one, who for the sake of non-confusion I
must speak of as "Julia," was the other brother's wife, and to be amiable
told her how charming she thought "Arma" (the new wife) was, and how
awfully devoted the husband seemed, and were they not very proud to have
such a perfect beauty in the family!

"Julia" got crimson and coughed, and then the lady from the other side
joined in telling Octavia that "Arma" was _her_ sister-in-law, but no
relation to this Mrs. Busfield! Octavia, of course, turned the conversation
and spoke to the hostess, but she said the two beside her, in spite of not
being on speaking terms chatted feverishly to each other for the rest of