"I assure you we have very little to teach Harvard men in those matters.
They could give any of us points. Those who are of good family and
station know how to protect themselves by reserves that the others
wouldn't dare to transgress. But a merely rich man couldn't rise in their
set any more than a merely gifted man. He could get on to a certain point
by toadying, and some do; but he would never get to be popular, like Dan
Mavering."

"And what makes him popular?--to go back to the point we started from,"
said Mrs. Pasmer.

"Ah, that's hard to say. It's--quality, I suppose. I don't mean social
quality, exactly; but personal charm. He never had a mean thought; of
course we're all full of mean thoughts, and Dan is too; but his first
impulse is always generous and sweet, and at his age people act a great
deal from impulse. I don't suppose he ever met a human being without
wanting to make him like him, and trying to do it."

"Yes, he certainly makes you like him," sighed Mrs. Pasmer. "But I
understand that he can't make people like him without family or money;
and I don't understand that he's one of those 'nouveaux riches' who are
giving Harvard such a reputation for extravagance nowadays."

There was an inquiring note in Mrs. Pasmer's voice; and in the
syringa-scented obscurity, which protected the ladies from the expression
of each other's faces, Mrs. Saintsbury gave a little laugh of
intelligence, to which Mrs. Pasmer responded by a murmur of humorous
enjoyment at being understood.