I did not
think it the moment to take him to task for what he had just done; I was
not even sure that it was the part of a host to do so at all, and between
the one doubt and the other I left the burden of talk to him.
"What a charming young creature!" he began. "I never saw anything prettier
than the way she had of refusing my help, absolutely without coquetry or
affectation of any kind. She is, as you said, a perfect lady, and she
graces her work, as I am sure she would grace any exigency of life. She
quite realizes my ideal of an American girl, and I see now what the spirit
of your country must be from such an expression of it."
I wished to tell him that while a country school-teacher who waits at
table in a summer hotel is very much to be respected in her sphere, she is
not regarded with that high honor which some other women command among us;
but I did not find this very easy, after what I had said of our esteem for
labor; and while I was thinking how I could hedge, my friend went on.
"I liked England greatly, and I liked the English, but I could not like
the theory of their civilization or the aristocratic structure of their
society.
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