Guy Wetmore Carryl

“ He was of the satisfactory medium height at which a man is neither contemptible nor clumsy, slight in build, but straight as an arrow, with narrow hips and a square backward fling of shoulder which spoke of resolution. ”

“ It’s a test I always apply to newcomers from America. If they eat only one Marennes verte, I know at once that they approve of forty-story buildings, and are going to talk about ‘getting back to God’s country’; if they eat all six, I know I may venture to hint that there are advantages about living in Paris, without having my head bitten off for being an expatriate. ”

“ That isn’t the cue to Paris at all! It only means that you and she are on terms of bowing acquaintance. You’ll never get to know her till you can talk to her in her own tongue.”
“Or listen to her talk to you,” observed Radwalader. “So long as we’re using the feminine gender—”
“Oh!” interrupted Mrs. Carnby. “A remark like that does come with extreme grace from you, I must say. Here,” she added, turning to Mrs. Ratchett, and indicating Radwalader with her fish-fork, “here’s a man, my dear, who spent two solid hours of last Monday telling me the story of his life. ”

“ He met those of another squarely, not alone with the frankness characteristic of youth, but with the strange calm of confidence typical of men accustomed to the command of a battle-ship or an army corps. ”

“ Ratchett, suddenly abandoning the argument in which it was evident that she was coming out second best.
“My choice of a profession,” replied Andrew. “I don’t want to make a mistake. But everything seems to be overcrowded.”
“Exactly,” observed Radwalader. “It isn’t so much a question of selecting what’s right as of getting what’s left. Haven’t you a special talent?” ”

“ It was her belief that men, like saddle-horses, should be given their heads in strange territory, and left to find themselves — this in contrast to the policy of her social rival, Madame Palffy, who boasted of being able to draw out the best there was in a new acquaintance in the first quarter-hour of conversation. ”

“ Then she noted that he was eminently at ease. There is something out of the common about twenty that keeps its hands hanging at its sides, and its feet firmly planted, without suggesting a tailor’s dummy. ”

“ Carnby. “But, my dear Mr. Vane, that’s not a profession. It’s only a synonym for getting on in society. We’re all of us civil engineers!”
She pushed back her chair as she spoke.
“We’ll wait for you in the salon,” she added, “and, meanwhile, Mrs. Ratchett and I will think up a profession for Mr. Vane. Jeremy, you’re to give them the shortest cigars you have.”
“I was once in the same quandary,” said Radwalader to Andrew, when the men were left alone, “and concluded to let Time answer the question for me. ”

“ I’m over here in search of a hint.”
“And a very excellent idea, too!” said his hostess. “Because, if you will keep your eyes open in the American Colony, you’ll see about everything which a man ought not to do; and after that it should be comparatively easy to make a choice among the few things that remain.” ”