Clarence Budington Kelland

“ I have had comparatively little to do with women, and must confess that there has been no embarrassing eagerness on their part to seek my society. Indeed, I have had my disappointments, due, I believe, to failure on my part to study the subject as I should. There must, thought I, be some one who treats instructively of the subject of women. It was an idea to act upon with promptness. I therefore hastened to our public library and approached the young woman in charge. ”

“ I gleaned from it an important fact, namely, that young women are attracted by romance, and that in their eyes the most romantic of acts is an elopement. It seems that a young lady prefers to elope with a man she dislikes rather than to marry in due form and prosaically a gentleman who has won her affection. I considered this a curious thing.
I despatched a messenger to Miss Iseult with a note inviting her to accompany me to the mid-week dance at the Country Club that night. ”

“ In the case of certain families who make large sums of money from overalls or some other commodity there has been an effort to deceive the public. The press has been subsidized, I am told, with the result that the public has become confused and often mistakes those families for genuine leaders in our society. ”

“ It was an interesting question, and I determined at some future day to give it my attention, in fact to write a monograph on the subject of "Overalls in American Society.
I am a man of action as well as thought. That has doubtless been recognized. Therefore, when I determined that night to put an end to the aggravating condition at the club I did not delay, but began taking active steps. My first active step was to evolve a plan.
The point in the affair that seemed sorest to the touch was that young Higgins—Peter was his name—had aspired to Iseult Wickliff's hand. ”

“ If Iseult bestowed her affections on a man acceptable to her mother, and if Peter Higgins courted a young woman from his own faction in the club, then that irritant would be removed, and peace would be so much nearer. It was my plan to bring about this desirable result. ”

“ Wickliff, with some asperity. "I am indeed in a position to do so. It may be traced to the fact that some years ago—for alleged business reasons—our husbands allowed to be admitted to membership several persons who would have been much more at home elsewhere. These persons, men who have little interest in the club, were no doubt hectored into pushing themselves in by wives who hoped for social recognition. These individuals have not only grown in number, but in energy. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1964, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 58 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”