Mrs. Vanderpool watched her a while.
"Zora," she presently broke into the girl's absorption, "how would you
like to be Ambassador to France?"
_Twenty-four_
THE EDUCATION OF ALWYN
Miss Caroline Wynn of Washington had little faith in the world and its
people. Nor was this wholly her fault. The world had dealt cruelly with
the young dreams and youthful ambitions of the girl; partly with its
usual heartlessness, partly with that cynical and deadening reserve fund
which it has today for its darker peoples. The girl had bitterly
resented her experiences at first: she was brilliant and well-trained;
she had a real talent for sculpture, and had studied considerably; she
was sprung from at least three generations of respectable mulattoes, who
had left a little competence which yielded her three or four hundred
dollars a year. Furthermore, while not precisely pretty, she was
good-looking and interesting, and she had acquired the marks and
insignia of good breeding. Perhaps she wore her manners just a trifle
consciously; perhaps she was a little morbid that she would fail of
recognition as a lady. Nor was this unnatural: her brown skin invited a
different assumption. Despite this almost unconscious mental
aggressiveness, she was unusually presentable and always well-groomed
and pleasant of speech.
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