“What fault do you find with my candidate?”

“I think it possible that she might have been satisfactory from the mere point of scholarship,” judicially answered Pauline, who did not realize in the least that her sister-in-law was offended, “though Mrs. Grainger stopped short of close inquiry on that score, for the reason that Miss Bailey failed to satisfy our requirements in another respect.  I don’t wish to imply by what I am going to say anything against her character, or her capacity for usefulness as a teacher under certain conditions, but I confide to you frankly, Selma, that we make it an absolute condition in the choice of instructors for our students that they should be first of all lady-like in thought and speech, and here it was that she fell short.  Of course I have never seen Miss Bailey, but Mrs. Grainger reported that she was—­er—­impossible.”

“You mean that your friend does not consider her a lady?  She isn’t a society lady, but I did not suppose an American girl would be refused a position as a teacher for such a reason as that.”

“A lady is a lady, whether she is what you term a society lady or not.  Mrs. Grainger told us that Miss Bailey’s appearance and manners did not suggest the womanly refinement which we deem indispensable in those who are to teach our college students.  Five years ago only scholarship and cleverness were demanded, but experience has taught the educators of women that this was a mistake.”

“I presume,” said Selma, with dramatic scorn, “that Mrs. Hallett Taylor disapproved of her.  I thought there would be some such outcome when I heard that she was to be consulted.”

“Mrs. Taylor’s name was not mentioned,” answered Pauline, in astonishment.  “I had no idea, Selma, that you regarded this as a personal matter.  You told me that you had seen Miss Bailey but once.”

“I am interested in her because—­because I do not like to see a cruel wrong done.  You do not understand her.  You allow a prejudice, a class-prejudice, to interfere with her career and the opportunity to display her abilities.  You should have trusted Mrs. Earle, Pauline, She is my friend, and she recommended Miss Bailey because she believed in her.  It is a reflection on me and my friends to intimate that she is not a lady.”

She bent forward from the sofa with her hands clasped and her lips tightly compressed.  For a moment she gazed angrily at the bewildered Pauline, then, as though she had suddenly bethought her of her New York manner, she drew herself up and said with a forced laugh—­“If the reason you give were not so ridiculous, I should be seriously offended.”

“Offended!  Offended with Pauline,” exclaimed Littleton, who entered the room at the moment.  “It cannot be that my two guardian angels have had a falling out.”  He looked from one to the other brightly as if it were really a joke.

“It is nothing,” said Selma.

“It seems,” said Pauline with fervor, “that I have unintentionally hurt Selma’s feelings.  It is the last thing in the world I wish to do, and I trust that when she thinks the matter over she will realize that I am innocent.  I am very, very sorry.”