The young lady asked me if I had seen Miss Putney, and when I replied
that I had, she inquired if I did not think that she was a very pretty
girl. "I do not know her," she said, "but I have often seen her when
she was out driving. I do not believe there is any one in this part of
the country who dresses better than she does."
I laughed, and told her that I thought I knew somebody who dressed
much finer even than Miss Putney, and then I described the incident
of the Duke's dressing-gown. This delighted them all, and before I
left I was obliged to give every detail of my gorgeous attire.
It was about eleven o'clock when at last I tore myself away from this
most attractive little family. To live as they lived, to be interested
in the things that interested them--for the house seemed filled with
books and pictures--to love nature, to love each other, and to think
well of their fellow-beings, even of the super-rich--seemed to me to
be an object for which a man of my temperament should be willing to
strive and thankful to win. After meeting her parents I did not wonder
that I had thought the slender girl so honest-hearted and so lovable.
It was true that I had thought that.