"An American woman who respects herself," said Mrs. Westgate,
turning to Beaumont with her bright expository air, "must buy
something every day of her life. If she can not do it herself,
she must send out some member of her family for the purpose.
So Bessie goes forth to fulfill my mission."

The young girl had walked away, with Lord Lambeth by her side,
to whom she was talking still; and Percy Beaumont watched them
as they passed toward the house. "She fulfills her own mission,"
he presently said; "that of being a very attractive young lady."

"I don't know that I should say very attractive," Mrs. Westgate rejoined.
"She is not so much that as she is charming when you really know her.
She is very shy."

"Oh, indeed!" said Percy Beaumont.

"Extremely shy," Mrs. Westgate repeated. "But she is a dear good girl; she is
a charming species of girl. She is not in the least a flirt; that isn't
at all her line; she doesn't know the alphabet of that sort of thing.
She is very simple, very serious. She has lived a great deal in Boston,
with another sister of mine--the eldest of us--who married a Bostonian.
She is very cultivated, not at all like me; I am not in the least cultivated.
She has studied immensely and read everything; she is what they call
in Boston 'thoughtful.'"

"A rum sort of girl for Lambeth to get hold of!" his lordship's
kinsman privately reflected.

"I really believe," Mrs. Westgate continued, "that the most charming