“Marrying for manners, money, and position doesn’t strike me as quite a nice thing to do,” said Letty, stoutly.
Miss Maywood simply glanced at her, but the look said as plainly as words, “What a fool to suppose anybody would believe you.”
But what she actually said was, with a little laugh, “That’s very nice to say, but marriage without those things is out of the question, and the possession of them marks the difference between a possible man and an impossible man.”
This short discussion had brought the two young women to a mutual contempt of one another, although each was too well bred to show it. Just then there was a slight diversion in the group, and Letty gravitated toward Sir Archy. It was then his turn instead of Farebrother’s to receive assurances of Miss Corbin’s distinguished consideration.
“Where have you been all the morning?” she asked, with her sweetest wheedling. “I’ve been looking out for you a whole hour.”
Farebrother was then engaged with Mrs. Chessingham and Miss Maywood, and did not hear this colossal fib, which would not have ranked as a fib at all in Letty’s birthplace. But Miss Maywood heard it with a thrill of disgust. Not so Sir Archy. He had found out by that time that the typical American girl—not the sham English one, which sometimes is evolved from an American seedling—is prone to say flattering things to men, which cannot always be taken at their face value. Nevertheless, he liked the process, and showed his white teeth in a pleasant smile.
“And,” continued Letty, with determined cajolery, “you really must not treat me with the utter neglect you’ve shown me for the last ten days.”
“Neglect, by Jove,” said Sir Archy, laughing. “It seems to me that the neglect you complain of keeps me on the go from morning till night. When I am not doing errands for you I am reading up on subjects that I have never thought essential to a polite education before, but which you seem to think anybody but a Patagonian would know.”
Nothing escaped Miss Maywood’s ears. “The brazen thing,” she thought indignantly to herself. “Pretending that she wouldn’t marry for money and position and now simply throwing herself at Sir Archy’s head.”
Letty, however, was altogether unconscious of this, and went on with happy indifference.