over me.

"Certainly. Ribbands of the wrong colour will half kill a
woman. And I have heard aunt Randolph say that a particular
lady was ruined by her gloves."

"Ruined by her gloves!" said I. "Did she buy so many?"

Preston went into such a laugh at that, I had to wait some
time before I could go on. I saw I had made some mistake, and
I would not renew that subject.

"Do _you_ mean to be anything of that sort?" I said, with some
want of connection.

"What sort? Ruined by my gloves? Not if I know it."

"No, no! I mean, a lawyer or a doctor or a professor?"

"I should think not!" said Preston, with a more emphatic
denial.

"Then, what are you studying for?"

"Because, as I told you, Daisy, a man must know things, or he
cannot get on in the world."

I pondered the matter, and then I said, I should think good
sense would make a woman study too. I did not see the
difference. "Besides, Preston," I said, "if she didn't, they