"You call that a pretty picture!" she said disdainfully; "Miss
Burton reading a newspaper to two stupid old people who ought to be
abed! A more humdrum scene I never saw. Truly, both your breath
and your words show that you have been drinking too much. But
you need not expect me to share in your tipsy sentiment over Miss
Burton. Did Mr. Van Berg ask you to show me this matter-of-fact
group which, in his artistic jargon, you call a picture?"

"If he had, he showed you a greater kindness than you deserved."

"Yes, and a greater one than I asked or wished from him."

"Then you are going back to dance with Sibley?"

"Yes, I am."

"The prospects are, that you and Mrs. Chints and a couple of
half-tipsy men will soon have it all to yourselves. I suppose the
old adage about 'birds of a feather' swill still hold good. I was
in hopes, however, that even if you had no appreciation of what
was beautiful, refined, and unselfish in another woman's action,
you still had some self-respect, or at least some fear of ridicule,
left. Since you won't listen to me, I shall warn your mother.
If Sibley and two or three others drink much more, Burleigh will
interfere for the credit of his house."

"You have been drinking as well as Mr. Sibley."

"Well, thanks to Van Berg, I stopped before I lost my head."