A little later, when Louis and Margaret happened to be alone, the former said:
“I wish you would tell me what it was that amused you about that invitation. The system of social tactics, of which you are the exponent, begins to interest me extremely. What was it that brought that puzzled look to your face just now?”
“Shall I really tell?” the girl asked, doubtfully.
“Pray do—frankly. I’m so interested to know.”
“I was wondering who this General Morton could be, that a card to his supper should be deemed such an acquisition. I have discovered the fact that you Gastons are proud of your lineage, and, as I have heard it said that yours is one of the few really historical families of America, perhaps it should not be wondered at. Who then, can General Morton be, I was thinking, to be in a position to confer honor on the Gastons? I suppose he’s some one very grand, but I’m such an ignoramus that I really don’t know who the Mortons are, when they’re at home.”
“I believe Morton’s origin was very common,” said Louis. “Certainly, he has no sort of claim to aristocratic distinction. He has a high official position and is very rich and a very good-natured, sensible sort of man, but it is out of the question that he could, socially speaking, confer honor upon my brother.”
“And yet it was evident,” began Margaret—but she stopped abruptly, and Louis made no motion to help her out.
“Do you know,” he said, presently, “that, through your influence, Miss Trevennon, I have been gradually undergoing certain changes in my points of view. I am getting an insight into your social basis and system, and, stubborn Yankee as I am, I must admit that there’s something fine in it. I really think I begin to feel myself veering perceptibly. Until I met you, I had no idea what a difference there was between the Northern and Southern ideas of these matters.”
“But I must not be taken as a strict representative of the Southern idea—nor you, I suppose, for a strict representative of the Northern idea,” said Margaret. “At home, they think me a great radical. I have no special respect for pedigrees in general. That one’s forefathers should have been honest is the first thing, it seems to me, and that they should have been social luminaries should come a long way after.”
“You rather amaze me in that,” said Louis. “I thought there were no sticklers for birth and ancestry like the Southerners.”