With studied carelessness Amy now said: "I'd like to know her. She's the woman you were talking with at the door just now, isn't she?"
"Yes," said Narcisse.
"She looked—unusual," continued Amy. "I wish you'd take me to see her."
"I'll be very glad to take you," Narcisse offered, on impulse. "Perhaps she's really got talent and isn't simply looking for a husband. Usually, when a woman shows signs of industry it means she's looking for a husband, whatever it may seem to mean. But, if Neva's in earnest about her work and has talent, you might put her in the way of an order or so."
"I'll go, any day," said Amy. "Please don't forget."
She departed as soon as lunch was over, and the brother and sister set out for their offices—not for their work; it they never left. "Pretty, isn't she?" said Alois. "And extremely intelligent."
"She is intelligent in a scrappy sort of way," replied his sister. "But she neither said nor did anything in your presence to-day to indicate it."
"Well, then—she's pretty enough to make a mere man think she's intelligent."
"I saw you were beginning to fall in love with her," said the sister.
"I? Ridiculous!"