"It's a compliment to our time!" exclaimed the young man with a little laugh,
in spite of himself.

"I don't see why I should regard what is done here," said Bessie Alden.
"Why should I suffer the restrictions of a society of which I enjoy none
of the privileges?"

"That's very good--very good," murmured Willie Woodley.

"Oh, go to the Tower, and feel the ax, if you like," said Mrs. Westgate.
"I consent to your going with Mr. Woodley; but I should not let you go
with an Englishman."

"Miss Bessie wouldn't care to go with an Englishman!"
Mr. Woodley declared with a faint asperity that was, perhaps,
not unnatural in a young man, who, dressing in the manner
that I have indicated and knowing a great deal, as I have said,
about London, saw no reason for drawing these sharp distinctions.
He agreed upon a day with Miss Bessie--a day of that same week.

An ingenious mind might, perhaps, trace a connection between the young
girl's allusion to her destitution of social privileges and a question
she asked on the morrow as she sat with her sister at lunch.

"Don't you mean to write to--to anyone?" said Bessie.

"I wrote this morning to Captain Littledale," Mrs. Westgate replied.

"But Mr. Woodley said that Captain Littledale had gone to India."