Alice Duer Miller

“ A man’s marriage, as things are now arranged, threatens every other personal relation that he sustains, however innocent. Miss Lee would miss Jerry. Besides, it was almost a breach of faith. It had always been understood that he liked her better than any other woman, and he had only been allowed to stay out of love with her, on condition that he seemed tolerably sure not to fall in love with any one else. And now things had got as far as this, and she did not even know whom Mrs. Orvice had reference to. ”

“ It struck me you would be just his man.”
“They tell you,” said Jerry thoughtfully, “that everything is salable if you can find the right man, but I never supposed that any one existed who would have any use for my assortment of qualities. Upon my word, Prixley, this is very good of you.”
“It doesn’t sound like much, but you can never tell what things like that will lead to. A man’s private secretary is often his only possible successor in a business way. He offers you a salary of twenty-five hundred dollars a year, and he has the temper of a fiend. ”

“ To smoke a little better cigars than you ought, to drink a little better wine than the next man——”
“To lead,” interrupted Jerry, smiling, “a life, which, ignominious as you think it, satisfies me perfectly. There are only two things that make people discontented—natural ability and poor health. ”

“ She asked the name of the lady—heard Marie Louise's, and expressed her relief.
“The exuberant young lady that he and Mr. Peale gave a party to? I don’t think I should worry about her, dear Mrs. Orvice. Hardly a person to sweep Jerry off his feet.”
But Mrs. Orvice’s countenance did not brighten.
“I don’t know about sweeping him off his feet,” she answered, “but she is always sending him notes, and asking him to dine—you know how girls are about Jerry—and she is enormously rich.”
“Oh, you mothers!” said Miss Lee, with affectionate condemnation. “You are more slanderous than a man’s enemies. ”

“ V. At this time in New York one of the most conspicuous figures among a certain group of people was a lady—then unmarried. She was only twenty-seven, but, inasmuch as she had been grown up for at least ten years, she felt justified in assuming the privileges of a more advanced age. She was an orphan and lived alone ”