“Because of the many pretty bows you receive.”
Lettice gave her head a little toss, and then asked, a trifle wickedly, “Is it then a new experience to you to count on receiving a bow from a gentleman?”
“No,” returned Rhoda, somewhat nettled; “but from so many.”
“Oh, so many; then you girls in Boston cannot account your acquaintances by the dozen.”
“We don’t want to,” returned Rhoda, shortly. “We are not so lavish of our smiles as to bestow them upon every masculine we meet.”
“It is plain to see why you like to come to market.”
“That’s where you lose a great deal,” replied Lettice, suavely. “Now, I’ve been taught to be sweetly polite to everybody, and my father would bow as courteously to Mrs. Flynn as to Mrs. Dolly Madison, and so would my brothers.”
“You have two brothers, I believe,” said Rhoda, changing the subject.
“Yes; one has not been long married and lives at our old home in eastern Maryland.”