She nodded.

“Not one break; not one escapade, Dolly.  It’s up to you.”

“I know it.”

“All right, then.  What’s passed doesn’t count.  You start in and see what you can do.  They say they drag one about by the hair at those dramatic schools.  If they do, you’ve got to let ’em.  Anyway, things ought to come easier to you than to some, for you’ve got a corking education, and you don’t drink sloe-gin, and you don’t smoke.”

“And I can cook,” added the girl gravely, looking at her childish ringless hands.  The rings and a number of other details had been left behind addressed to the count.

“The trouble will be,” said Malcourt, “that you will miss the brightness and frivolity of things.  That kitten won’t compensate.”

“Do you think so?  I haven’t had very much of anything—­even kittens,” she said, picking up the soft ball of fur and holding it under her chin.

“You missed the frivolous in life even before you had it.  You’ll miss it again, too.”

“But I’ve had it now.”

“That doesn’t count.  The capacity for frivolity is always there.  You are reconciled just now to other things; that man is a beast all right.  Oh, yes; this is reaction, Dolly.  The idea is to hang on to this conservatism when it becomes stupid and irksome; when you’re tired and discouraged, and when you want to be amused and be in bright, attractive places; and when you’re lonesome—­”

“Lonesome?”

“Certainly you’ll be lonesome if you’re good.”

“Am I not to see you?”

“I’ll be in the backwoods working for a living—­”

“Yes, but when you come to New York?”

“Sure thing.”

“Often?”

“As often as it’s advisable,” he said pleasantly.  “I want you to make friends at school; I want you to have lots of them.  A bachelor girl has got to have ’em....  It’s on your account and theirs that I don’t intend to have anybody make any mistake about me....  Therefore, I’ll come to see you when you’ve a friend or two present.  It’s fairer to you. Now do you understand me, Dolly?”

“Yes.”

“Is it agreeable?”

“Y-es.”  And, flushing:  “But I did not mistake you, Louis; and there is no reason not to come, even if I am alone.”

He laughed, lighted a cigarette, and stroked the kitten.

“It’s an amusing experiment, anyway,” he said.

“Have you never tried it before?”

“Oh, yes, several times.”

“Were the several times successes?”

“Not one!” he said, laughing.  “It’s up to you, Dolly, to prove me a bigger ass than I have been yet—­or the reverse.”

“It lies with me?” she asked.

“Certainly.  Have I ever made love to you?”

“No.”

“Ever even kissed you?”

“No.”

“Ever been a brute?”

“No....  You are not very careful in speaking to me sometimes.  Once—­at the Club—­when Mr. Hamil—­”