Selma was silent a moment; then she said, “That reminds me; have you found out about our next-door neighbors yet?”

“He is a banker named Williams, I believe.”

“I saw his wife pass the window this morning.  She was beautifully dressed.  They must be rich.”

“I dare say.”

“But they live in the same style of house as ours.”

“Bankers have mysterious ways of making money.  We cannot compete with those.”

“I suppose not.  I was thinking that she had the same manner as some of your friends this evening, only more pronounced.  She stopped to speak to some one just in front of the house, so I could observe her.  I should think she was frivolous, but fascinating.  That must be the New York manner, and, consequently, she may be very much in earnest.”

“It isn’t given to every woman to be attractive all the time just because she looks in earnest, as it is to you, dearest.  But you musn’t be too severe on the others.”

“On the contrary, I think I shall like Mrs. Williams.  She may teach us to be practical.  You know that is what your friends would like to have me help you to be, Wilbur.”

“Then they did talk a word or two of sense?”

“They said that.  Do you think it is true that you are visionary?”

“It is your duty to tell me so, Selma, when you think it, just as I have told you that we can afford to laugh now and then.  Come, begin.”

“I haven’t been your wife long enough yet.  I shall know better by the end of another six months.”

A fortnight elapsed before Selma made the acquaintance of Mrs. Gregory Williams.  It was not a chance meeting.  Flossy rang the bell deliberately one afternoon and was ushered in, thereby bridging over summarily the yawning chasm which may continue to exist for an indefinite period between families in the same block who are waiting to be introduced.

“I said to my husband last night, Mrs. Littleton, that it was ridiculous for us to be living side by side without knowing one another, and that I was going to call.  We moved in three weeks before you, so I’m the one who ought to break the ice.  Otherwise we might have stared at each other blankly for three months, looked at each other sheepishly out of the corner of our eyes for another three, half bowed for six months, and finally, perhaps, reached the stage where we are now.  Neighbors should be neighborly, don’t you think so?”

“Indeed I do.  Of course I knew you by sight; and I felt I should like to make your acquaintance.”  Selma spoke with enthusiasm.  Here was some one whose social deftness was no less marked than Mrs. Hallett Taylor’s, and, to her mind, more brilliant, yet whom she felt at once to be congenial.  Though she perceived that her neighbor’s clothes made her own apparel seem dull, and was accordingly disposed to be on her guard, she realized instinctively that she was attracted by the visitor.