"How could I break through the solid phalanx of supplicating admirers?"
"At least, you might have tried. I want to try that new step I saw you doing with Mrs. Willard. And I always get what I want."
"Unfortunate young lady!"
"Why unfortunate?"
"To have nothing seem unattainable. Life must pall on you terribly."
"Indeed, it doesn't. I like being a spoiled child, don't you? Don't you think it's fun having everything you want to buy, and having a leading citizen for a father?"
"Is your father a leading citizen?" asked Hal, amused.
"Of course. So's yours. Neither of them quite knows which is the most leading. Dr. Surtaine is the most popular, but I suppose Pop is the most influential. Between the two of them they pretty much run this little old burg. Of course," she added with careless insolence, "Pop has got it all over Dr. Surtaine socially.
"I humbly feel that I am addressing local royalty," said Hal, smiling sardonically.
"Who? Me? Oh, I'm only the irresponsible child of wealth and power. Dr. Merritt called me that once—before I got him tamed." Turning to look at the gray young man who stood not far off, and noting the quiet force and competence of the face, Hal hazarded a guess to himself that the very frank young barbarian with whom he was talking was none too modest in her estimate of her own capacities. "Mrs. Willard is our local queen," she continued. "And Esmé Elliot is the princess. Have you met Esmé yet?"