“But Mrs. Williams says that she will never be happy until her relations and the people of that set are obliged to take notice of her, and that she and her husband are going to cut a dash to attract attention.  It’s her secret.”

“The cat which she let out of the bag is a familiar one.  She must be amusing, provided she is not vulgar.”

“I don’t think she’s vulgar, Wilbur.  She wears gorgeous clothes, but they’re extremely pretty.  She said that she called on me because she thought that we were literary, and that she desired an antidote to the banker’s business, which shows she isn’t altogether worldly.  She wishes us to dine with them soon.”

“That’s neighborly.”

“Why was it, Wilbur, that you didn’t buy our house instead of hiring it?”

“Because I hadn’t money enough to pay for it.”

“The Williamses bought theirs.  But I don’t believe they paid for it altogether.  She says her husband thinks the land will increase in value, and they hope some day to make money by the rise.  I imagine Mr. Williams must be shrewd.”

“He’s a business man.  Probably he bought, and gave a mortgage back.  I might have done that, but we weren’t sure we should like the location, and it isn’t certain yet that fashion will move in just this direction.  I have very little, and I preferred not to tie up everything in a house we might not wish to keep.”

“I see.  She appreciates that people may take us up any time.  She thinks you are distinguished looking.”

“If she isn’t careful, I shall make you jealous, Selma.  Was there anything you didn’t discuss?”

“I regard you as the peer of any Morton Price alive.  Why aren’t you?”

“Far be it from me to discourage such a wifely conclusion.  Provided you think so, I don’t care for any one else’s opinion.”

“But you agree with her.  That is, you consider because people of that sort don’t invite us to their houses, they are better than we.”

“Nothing of the kind.  But there’s no use denying the existence of social classes in this city, and that, though I flatter myself you and I are trying to make the most of our lives in accordance with the talents and means at our disposal, we are not and are not likely to become, for the present at any rate, socially prominent.  That’s what you have in mind, I think.  I don’t know those people; they don’t know me.  Consequently they do not ask me to their beautiful and costly entertainments.  Some day, perhaps, if I am very successful as an architect, we may come more in contact with them, and they will have a chance to discover what a charming wife I have.  But from the point of view of society, your neighbor Mrs. Williams is right.  She evidently has a clear head on her shoulders and knows what she desires.  You and I believe that we can get more happiness out of life by pursuing the even tenor of our way in the position in which we happen to find ourselves.”