You see, I thought, of course, that you would select an evening gown of some sort--something, you know, that would fit your social position--your place in the world.

In this costume, the beauty of your shoulders--" Lowering her eyes as if embarrassed, she said coldly, "The beauty of my shoulders is not for the public.

I have never worn--I will not wear--one of those dreadful, immodest gowns." Aaron King was bewildered.

Suddenly, he remembered what Conrad Lagrange had said about her fad.

But after so frankly exhibiting herself before him, dressed as she was in a gown that was deliberately planned to advertise her physical charms, to be particular about baring her shoulders in a conventional costume--! It was quite too much.
"Again, I beg your pardon, Mrs.Taine," he managed to say.