"People are idiots. They know you will believe it because you are a man. They don't dare tell me anything of the sort. No, Fred, we must build all our hopes of beauty on Winona."
"Ah!" I remarked, with an intonation of pride; "even her mother will not be able to pick a flaw in her."
"She is a very handsome girl, but——"
Josephine stopped short, and I could see that her lip was trembling with emotion.
"There is no 'but,'" I protested. "Whatever Josie may be, Winona is a raving beauty."
"Oh, yes, Fred, I am perfectly satisfied with her looks. That makes it all the harder. I'm on tenterhooks lest she is going to be queer."
"Queer?" I inquired, with agitation, dreading some disclosure of mental derangement.
"Odd—not like other people. It would break my heart, Fred. She is seventeen, and she doesn't take the slightest interest in coming out. You remember I had her appear for an hour at Josie's party, and that she was surrounded by young men from the moment she entered the room until I sent her to bed? Most girls would have been in danger of having their heads turned. Winona was bored."
"She will get over that as soon as she is a year older. She is shy."
"She is not shy. If she were shy I should think nothing of it. She declares that society is all nonsense, and that she wishes never to come out at all."