murmur on the other side of the wall. It sounded like the gentle ripple
of a summer sea.

"Why?" returned James.

"She defies her sex," replied Doctor Gordon, "and still there is nothing
mannish about her. She is a woman angry and ashamed at her womanhood.
If she ever marries, it will be at the cost of a terrible mental
struggle. There are women-haters among men, and there are a very few--so
few as to rank with albinos and white blackbirds in scarcity--man-haters
among women. Annie is a man-hater."

"She is very pretty, too," said James.

"If you attempt the conquest, I'll warn you there will be scaling
ladders and all the ancient paraphernalia of siege needed," said Doctor
Gordon laughingly. James colored.

"It may be that I am a woman-hater," he replied, and looked very young.
Doctor Gordon again laughed.

A little later they went to Georgie K.'s. They went nearly every evening
while Annie Lipton was with Clemency. After she had left they did not go
so often. "It is pretty dull for Clemency," Doctor Gordon would say, and
they would remain at home and play whist with the two ladies. James
began to be quite sure that Doctor Gordon's visits to Georgie K.'s were
mostly made when Mrs. Ewing looked worse than usual and did not eat her
dinner. James became convinced in his own mind that Mrs. Ewing was not
well, although he never dared broach the subject again to the doctor,
and although it made no difference whatever in his own attitude toward