"He dies easier than I, eh?"

"I wish you would die!" said Blanche. "At any rate, Angela is not dying
of love for Mr. Wright."

"Well, she will marry him all the same," Lovelock declared.

Blanche Evers glanced at Bernard.

"Why don't you contradict that?" she asked. "Why don't you speak up for
your friend?"

"I am quite ready to speak for my friend," said Bernard, "but I am not
ready to speak for Miss Vivian."

"Well, I am," Blanche declared. "She won't marry him."

"If she does n't, I 'll eat my hat!" said Captain Lovelock. "What do
you mean," he went on, "by saying that in America a pretty girl's mother
does n't care for a young fellow's property?"

"Well, they don't--we consider that dreadful. Why don't you say so,
Mr. Longueville?" Blanche demanded. "I never saw any one take things so
quietly. Have n't you got any patriotism?"

"My patriotism is modified by an indisposition to generalize," said
Bernard, laughing. "On this point permit me not to generalize. I am
interested in the particular case--in ascertaining whether Mrs. Vivian
thinks very often of Gordon Wright's income."