And then the idea of throwing away such a chance! Was Isa crazy?
It would be well enough to accept Elsie's offer to pay their traveling expenses and provide each with a handsome outfit; but her cottage would be no place to spend the summer in, when they could do so much better; they would meet few gentlemen there; Elsie and Mr.Travilla were so absurdly particular as to whom they admitted to an acquaintance with their daughters; if there was the slightest suspicion against a man's moral character, he might as well wish for the moon as for the entree to their house; or so much as a bowing acquaintance with Elsie or Vi.

It was really too absurd." "But, mamma," expostulated Isadore, "surely you would not be willing that we should associate with any one who was not of irreproachable character ?" Mrs.Conly colored and looked annoyed.
"There is no use in being too particular, Isadore," she said, "one can't expect perfection; young men are very apt to be a little wild, and they often settle down afterward into very good husbands." "Really, I don't think any the worse of a young fellow for sowing a few wild oats," remarked Virginia, with a toss of her head: "they're a great deal more interesting than your _good_ young men." "Such as Cal and Art," suggested Isa, smiling slightly.

"Mamma, don't you wish they'd be a little wild ?" "Nonsense, Isadore! your brothers are just what I would have them! I don't _prefer_ wild young men, but I hope I have sense enough not to expect everybody's sons to be as good as mine, and charity enough to overlook the imperfections of those who are not." "Well, mamma," said Isadore with great seriousness, "I have talked this matter over with Cousin Elsie, and I think she takes the right view of it; that the rule should be as strict for men as for women; that the sin which makes a woman an outcast from decent society, should receive the same condemnation when committed by a man; that a woman should require as absolute moral purity in the man she marries, as men do in the women they choose for wives; and so long as we are content with anything less, so long as we smile on men whom we know to be immoral, we are in a measure responsible for their vices." "I endorse that sentiment," said Arthur, coming in from an adjoining room; "it would be a great restraint upon men's vicious inclinations, if they knew that indulgence in vice would shut them out of ladies' society." "A truce to the subject.

I'm tired of it," said Virginia.

"Is it decided, mamma, that we take passage in the steamer with the Travillas ?" "Yes; and now let us turn our attention to the much more agreeable topic of dress; there are a good many questions to settle in regard to it;--what we must have, what can be got here, and what after we reach Philadelphia." "And how one dollar can be made to do the work of two," added Virginia; "for there are loads and loads of things I must have in order to make a respectable appearance at the watering-places." "And we have just two weeks in which to make our arrangements," added her mother..