"Is it so great an honor?"
"I esteem it as such."
"Who are they, anyway?"
"Well, as a family I regard them as my equals, and Miss Marian as my superior."
"Oh come, Strahan, gossip about them a little."
The officer burst out laughing. "Well," he said, "for a man of your phenomenal reticence you are asking a good many questions."
Merwyn colored slightly and blundered: "You know my motive, Strahan; one does not care to make acquaintances that are not quite—" and then the expression of his host's eyes checked him.
"I assure you the Vosburghs are 'QUITE,'" Strahan said, coldly. "Did I not say they were my equals? You may esteem yourself fortunate if Miss Vosburgh ever permits you to feel yourself to be her equal."
"Why, how so?" a little irritably.
"Because if a man has brains and discernment the more he sees of her the more will he be inclined to doubt his equality."