into ludicrous, grotesque, or hideous monstrosities for king and
populace to laugh at, and then resold them. Soft, immature faces
were made into animal likenesses; tender, unformed bodies were put
into wicker forms or porcelain vases and allowed to grow; then
when they had become things of compressed flesh and twisted bone,
the wicker was cut, the vase was broken, leaving a man in the shape
of a bottle or a mug.

That is precisely what environment does.

In the case of Allegheny Briskow, poverty, the drought, the
grinding hardships of these hard-scrabble Texas counties, had
dwarfed the intellect, the very soul of a splendid young animal.
Or so, at least, Gray told himself. It was a thought that evoked
profound consideration.

Now that the girl was beginning to lose her painful embarrassment,
she showed to somewhat better advantage and no longer impressed
him, as bovine, stolid, almost stupid; he could not but note again
her full young figure, her well-shaped, well-poised head, and her
regular features, and the pity of it seemed all the greater by
reason thereof. He tried to visualize her perfectly groomed, clad
in a smart gown molded over a well-fitting corset, with her feet
properly shod and her hair dressed--but the task was beyond him.
Probably she had never worn a corset, never seen a pair of silk
stockings. He thought, too, of what was in store for her and
wondered how she would fit into the new world she was about to
enter. Not very well, he feared. Might not this prove to be the
happiest period of all her new life, he asked himself. As yet the
wonder and the glory of the new estate left room in her