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Washington, where he was supposed to have been maneuvering some desirable berth for himself during the war, with the wise machinations of his father and friends.
    Then suddenly the young man turned to her, annoyed perhaps at the silence of the woman who had always seemed to be his old friend and ally.
    “Say, Emily,” he burst forth nonchalantly, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to speak to you about, and I guess this is as good a time as any. It’s about Lisle. Have you ever considered sending her away to get a little different slant on life? I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, Emily, and I felt it was my duty to suggest it to you.”
    Mrs. Kingsley lifted her eyes calmly and looked into the saucy eyes of the handsome boy for a moment before she spoke. Then she said coolly, “Since when have you taken to calling your elders by their first names, Victor?”
    “Oh,
that
!” laughed Victor. “Why everybody does that now, haven’t you noticed it, Emily? It’s quite the thing. All my friends at college do it. In fact, I think you’ll find that it’s getting to be a custom all over the civilized world. Of course, my mother practically had a fit the first time I called her Geraldine, but she’s getting quite accustomed to it now, and only laughs when I say it. And you’ll soon get to like it, too, Emily, I’m sure. You see, it gives you a personal individuality that you didn’t have before.”
    “No,” said Mrs. Kingsley quickly, “I shall not like it. I shall never like to have youths who are practically little more than children speaking to their elders in what I consider a disrespectful manner, and if you intend to remain a friend to our family, I must insist that you do not do it again.”
    “Oh, now Em—I beg your pardon, Mother Kingsley—I’m sorry you take it that way. I assure you I have the utmost respect for you, but it seems that it would be best for you to recognize the trend of the times and accept the changes that are coming into circulation. And it is for that reason that I suggested that Lisle might profit by going away to another college for a while and getting a more modern viewpoint for herself and for her parents. It has done me a world of good to get away from the elderly and somewhat antique ideas of my parents, and I’m sure it would improve Lisle wonderfully.”
    “I’m afraid I don’t agree with you that it has done you a world of good to go away,” said Mrs. Kingsley. “I think it has injured you unbearably, and if I were your mother I should be grieved beyond endurance at the change. Even as merely your old friend, I am filled with disappointment in you. I used to count you as a lad of great promise, but now you seem to have been under some stultifying blast that has made you insufferable. I would scarcely recognize you for the same boy we used to know. And I certainly do not recognize any right that you seem to think you have to criticize or advise about the education of and development of my daughter.”
    “Well, you are mistaken,” said the arrogant youth. “If Lisle is to be my wife someday, I think I have a right to suggest how she should be prepared to fill the position of hostess in my home and her social position as my wife.”
    Lisle’s eyes began to blaze. She laid down her knife and fork and prepared to rise from the table, while her mother assumed a haughty manner and answered in a cool voice, “If,” she said. “Yes, IF! You certainly have assumed a good deal, young man. There has been no question of marriage, and yet you come here as if you were giving an order for a certain style of wife to be prepared for you. You are insolent, Victor, and you do not seem to know it, which makes it all the more insulting.”
    “Oh, but that is absurd!” said the young man with a grin. “You certainly have known for years that Lisle and I were meant for each other and that neither of us had any thought of anything else but that we should marry someday.