She's a capital good listener."
"You're not the first man that found her eloquent. Stanton, your
banking friend, who never talks of anything but mines and stocks,
says she's the only woman who has any conversation; and we can all
swear that she never said two words to him the whole time she sat
next to him at dinner. But she looked at him as if she had. Why,
man, woman, and child all give her credit for any grace that
pleases themselves. And why? Because she's clever enough not to
practice any one of them--as graces. I don't know the girl that
claims less and gets more. For instance, you don't call her
pretty?" . . .
"Wait a bit. Ye'll not get on so fast, my young friend; I'm not
prepared to say that she's not," returned the Scotchman, with good-
humored yet serious caution.
"But you would have been prepared yesterday, and have said it. She
can produce the effect of the prettiest girl here, and without
challenging comparison. Nobody thinks of her--everybody
experiences her."
"You're an enthusiast, Mr. Raymond. As an habitue of the house, of
course, you--"
"Oh, my time came with the rest," laughed the young man, with
unaffected frankness. "It's about two years ago now."
"I see--you were not a marrying man."
"Pardon me--it was because I was."
The Scotchman looked at him curiously.
"Maruja is an heiress. I am a mining engineer."
"But, my dear fellow, I thought that in your country--"
"In MY country, yes.
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