Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the city room.djvu/188

 young person with a businesslike air, "my father naturally assumed that I would develop into the modern product that he most despised,—the society girl. My brothers, of course, he took in hand as soon as they were graduated. He gave them a rigorous business training, and they had to work their way from the bottom as faithfully as if they had n't a cent. They were bright boys, and father was very proud of the way they got on. He used to talk about it a good deal, and then look at me and sigh. It was trying, especially as I had some of his spirit in me, I suppose, so I resolved to give him a little surprise. Am I boring you to death?"

She looked deprecatingly at the interested faces around her, and, reassured by their expressions and emphatic denials, went on.

"One day my father was particularly vigorous in his denunciation of idle women. I felt, foolishly, that his remarks were directed at me. He was really very fond of me, but I think he classed me with my pet kitten in the matter of intelligence, notwithstanding my university diploma. I let him talk until he had finished, and then I told him calmly that