"Yes, that is just what she is,—the genius of the practical; it's an instinct with her. That is why she can give really elaborate dinners in her little house, and you have the feeling that there are at least a dozen servants where they ought to be, and all that."
From the Woodyards they digressed to New York and insensibly to Cairy's life there. Before they had turned back for tea Isabelle knew that the lame young Southerner had written a play which he hoped to induce some actress to take, and that meantime he was supporting himself in the various ways that modern genius has found as a substitute for Grub Street. He had also told her that New York was the only place one could live in, if one was interested in the arts, and that in his opinion the drama was the coming art of America,—"real American drama with blood in it"; and had said something about the necessity of a knowledge of life, "a broad understanding of the national forces," if a man were to write anything worth while.
"You mean dinner-parties?" Margaret asked at this point….
When he left the women, he had arranged to ride with Isabelle.
"It's the only sport I can indulge in," he said, referring to his physical infirmity, "and I don't get much of it in New York."
As he limped away across the lawn, Margaret asked mischievously:—
"Well, what do you think of Cousin Thomas? He lets you know a good deal about himself all at once."
"He is so interesting—and appealing, don't you think so, with those eyes?
Isn't it a pity he is lame?"
"I don't know about that. He's used that lameness of his very effectively. It's procured him no end of sympathy, and sympathy is what Thomas likes,—from women. He will tell you all about it some time,—how his negro nurse was frightened by a snake and dropped him on a stone step when he was a baby."
"We don't have men like him in St. Louis," Isabelle reflected aloud; "men who write or do things that are really interesting—it is all business or gossip. I should like to see Conny,—it must be exciting to live in New York, and be somebody!"