Cass Beard was not old and cynical enough to observe that this devout aspiration is usually uttered by those who have least reason to deplore their own femininity; and, but for the rebuff he had just received, would have made the usual emphatic dissent of our sex, when the wish is uttered by warm red lips and tender voices--a dissent, it may be remarked, generally withheld, however, when the masculine spinster dwells on the perfection of woman.

I dare say Miss Porter was sincere, for a moment later she continued, poutingly: "And yet I used to go to fires in Sacramento when I was only ten years old.

I saw the theatre burnt down.

Nobody found fault with me then." Something made Cass ask if her father and mother objected to her boyish tastes.

The reply was characteristic if not satisfactory: "Object?
I'd like to see them do it!" The direction of the road had changed.