Holworthy Hall

“ IV. From the annual meeting of the Woman's Club, Eleanor hurried homeward with unusually flushed cheeks. It had been a triumph, complete and undiluted. Beginning with a seven-page prelude which served the double purpose of hypnotizing her audience and encouraging herself, she had tacked into deep water so surely and so swiftly that only Miss Jenks, who shared the platform with her, kept up the subterfuge of trying to look absorbed and appreciative. ”

“ There's fame for you!"
"Oh!" she cried, scenting a loophole. "We were talking about Americans!"
"It's a pretty tough standard—I hope you're not serious, Eleanor. I'm twenty-five—it may be fifty years before I 'make good'—and travel isn't so much fun after you're seventy-five."
Eleanor came to him swiftly, and laid her hands on his massive shoulders.
"Hector," she said, "it may be because I'm so stupid myself. I'm like most girls nowadays—I don't really know very much. I want—as much as your father wanted you—to be a success. ”

“ The young man sat down without removing his eyes from their magnet.
"I'm not a very lively young person," he admitted. "I don't do any of these slithy dances, and I'm not much on society stuff—you know that. I'm— I can't promise you a lot of fun, Eleanor, but if you can be satisfied with the kind of life I've got to lead, I do wish you'd marry me!" ”