Some had told her she was spoiled, more, that
there was no use in trying to change her life because she would soon
marry; most of them had advised her to marry and find out what real
trouble was. Now, as she spoke she saw that this strange young man
from the sea not only understood her discontent, but thought it
natural, almost commonplace.
She poured it all out. "Only the worst thing," she ended, "is that I'm
not really any good. There isn't anything else that I know how to do."
"I doubt that," he answered, and she began to doubt it, too. "I'm sure
there are lots of things you could do if you put your mind on it. Did
you ever try to write?"
Now, indeed, she felt sure that he was gifted with powers more
than mortal--to have guessed this secret which no one else had ever
suspected. She colored deeply.
"Why, yes," she answered, "I think I can--a little, only I've so
little education."
"So little education?"
"Yes, I belong to the cultivated classes--three languages and nothing
solid."
"Well, you know, three languages seem pretty solid to me," said Ben,
who had wrestled very unsuccessfully with the French tongue. "You
speak three languages, and let me see, you know a good deal about
painting and poetry and jade and Chinese porcelains?"
She shrugged her shoulders contemptuously. "Oh, of course everyone
knows about those things, but what good are they?"
They were a good deal of good to Ben.
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