"I can't help it," said she.
"It's my nature to want these things."
"And to want them intelligently," said he. "Everybody wants,
but only the few want intelligently--and they get. The three
worst things in the world are sickness, poverty and obscurity.
Your splendid health safeguards you against sickness. Your
looks and your brains can carry you far away from the other
two. Your one danger is of yielding to the temptation to
become the wife or the mistress of some rich man. The
prospect of several years of heart-breaking hard work isn't
wildly attractive at twenty-two."
"You don't know me," said Susan--but the boast was uttered
under her breath.
The auto rushed up to Delmonico's entrance, came to a halt
abruptly yet gently. The attentiveness of the personnel, the
staring and whispering of the people in the palm room showed
how well known Brent was. There were several women--handsome
women of what is called the New York type, though it certainly
does not represent the average New York woman, who is poorly
dressed in flimsy ready-made clothes and has the mottled skin
that indicates bad food and too little sleep. These handsome
women were dressed beautifully as well as expensively, in
models got in--not from--Paris. One of them smiled sweetly at
Brent, who responded, so Susan thought, rather formally. She
felt dowdy in her home-made dress. All her pride in it
vanished; she saw only its defects.
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