Page:Traveler from Altruria, Howells, 1894.djvu/103

Rh. There are twenty young girls for every young man at all the summer-resorts in the East."

"But what would happen if these young farmers—I suppose they are farmers—were invited in to take part in the dance?" asked my friend.

"But that is impossible."

"Why?"

"Really, Mrs. Makely, I think I shall have to give him back to you!" I said.

The lady laughed. "I am not sure that I want him back."

"Oh, yes," the Altrurian entreated, with unwonted perception of the humor. "I know that I must be very trying with my questions; but do not abandon me to the solitude of my own conjectures. They are dreadful!"

"Well, I won't," said the lady, with another laugh. "And I will try to tell you what would happen if those farmers or farm hands, or whatever they are, were asked in. The mammas would be very indignant, and the young ladies would be scared, and nobody would know what to do, and the dance would stop."