"He has ability to do things. He has strength. ... He isn't like
us."

Arkwright winced. "I'm afraid you exaggerate him, merely because
he's different."

"He makes me feel an added contempt for myself, somehow. Doesn't
he you?"

"I can't say he does," replied Arkwright, irritated. "I appreciate
his good qualities, but I can't help being offended and disturbed
for him by his crudities. He has an idea that to be polite and
well-dressed is to be weak and worthless. And I can't get it out
of his head."

Margaret's smile irritated him still further. "All great men are
more or less rude and crude, aren't they?" said she. "They are
impatient of the trifles we lay so much stress on."

"So, you think Josh is a great man?"

"I don't know," replied Margaret, with exasperating
deliberateness. "I want to find out."

"And if you decide that he is, you'll marry him?"

"Perhaps. You suggested it the other day."

"In jest," said Arkwright, unaccountably angry with her, with