Page:The Confessions of a Well-Meaning Woman.djvu/145

 “Theo” to women who are old enough to have outgrown such nonsense. If you entertain—I do not, as you are aware—, I believe it is essential to have some such list as I have indicated; and I am told that the men repay you by running errands and being useful in a thousand ways. For their sake I hope they never hear what other men say about them, even the fellow-members of their little community—there is no more contemptuous critic of “Bunny” than “Theo”—or what the women say, for that matter. We may, if we are built that way, ask “Bunny” or “Theo” to come and look at frocks with us; but we don’t respect the man who does. . . If any girl dared ask Will to waste a morning, talking to her while she sat for her portrait. . . “Bunny” and “Theo” and “Chris” all pricked up their ears when they heard about Mrs. Sawyer. It was another house for them to lunch or dine at; and, of course, they were expected to come to the old houses primed with all the gossip they could pick up about her. I don’t know whether any of them thought seriously that they had a chance with her; they must surely realize that a woman prefers a man of some spirit. . . And, if they do, they have no excuse for standing in a ring and keeping every one else away. Of course, they were useful