“No; he thinks he loves her, but it is not so.  He is fascinated by her beauty; but I fear the day will come when, discovering her true character, he will mourn his infatuation.  I know his nature, and I know, too, that she cannot make him happy.”

She turned away; but he walked on with her to the carriage, handed her in, and said “Good-night” as coldly as usual.  Meantime, the rattle of plates, jingle of forks and spoons, in the supper room, would have rendered all conversation impossible had not the elevation of voices kept pace with the noise and confusion.  At one end of the table Cornelia Graham stood talking to a distinguished foreigner who was spending a few days in the city.  He was a handsome man, with fine colloquial powers, and seemed much interested in a discussion which he and Cornelia carried on, relative to the society of American cities as compared with European.  A temporary lull in the hum of voices allowed Cornelia to hear a remark made by a gentleman quite near her.

“Miss Laura, who did you say that young lady was that Mrs. Asbury introduced me to?  The one with such magnificent hair and teeth?”

His companion was no other than Laura Martin, whose mother, having built an elegant house and given several large parties, was now a “fashionable,” par excellence.  Laura elevated her nose very perceptibly, and answered: 

“Oh, a mere nobody!  Beulah Benton.  I can’t imagine how she contrived to be invited here.  She is a teacher in the public school, I believe; but that is not the worst.  She used to hire herself out as a servant.  Indeed, it is a fact, she was my little brother’s nurse some years ago.  I think ma hired her for six dollars a month.”  She laughed affectedly, and allowed her escort to fill her plate with creams.

Cornelia grew white with anger, and the stranger asked, with a smile, if he should consider this a sample of the society she boasted of.  Turning abruptly to Laura, she replied, with undisguised contempt: 

“The Fates forbid, Mr. Falconer, that you should judge American society from some of the specimens you may see here to-night!  Misfortune placed Miss Benton, at an early age, in an orphan asylum, and while quite young she left it to earn a support.  Mrs. Martin (this young lady’s mother) hired her as a nurse; but she soon left this position, qualified herself to teach, and now, with a fine intellect thoroughly cultivated, is the pride of all who can appreciate true nobility of soul and, of course, an object of envy and detraction to her inferiors, especially to some of our fashionable parvenus, whose self-interest prompts them to make money alone the standard of worth, and who are in the habit of determining the gentility of different persons by what they have, not what they are.”

Her scornful glance rested witheringly on Laura’s face, and, mortified and enraged, the latter took her companion’s arm and moved away.

“I have some desire to become acquainted with one who could deserve such eulogy from you,” answered the foreigner, somewhat amused at the course the conversation had taken and quite satisfied that Americans were accustomed to correct false impressions in rather an abrupt manner.