He had
a curiosity to meet at close range this cosmopolitan heiress of
such cultivation as Joe Powers' millions could purchase.
What Verden said of her he knew: that she was too free, too
scornful, too independent of conventions. All the tabby cats
whispered it to each other with lifted eyebrows that suggested
volumes, the while they courted her eager and unashamed. But he
had a feeling that perhaps Verden was not competent to judge. The
standards of this town and of New York were probably vastly
different. James welcomed the chance to enlarge his social
experience. Promptly he accepted the lead offered.
"I'm sure it can't. To present the evidence cogently will take at
least two hours. May I make the argument this evening, if it
please the court, during a call?"
"But I understood you were too busy saving the state--from my
father and my uncle by the way--to have time for a mere woman,"
she parried.
The good humor of her irony flattered him because it implied that
she offered him a chance to cultivate her--he was not at all sure
how much or how little that might mean--regardless of his
political affiliations. Not many women were logical enough to
accept so impersonally his opposition to the candidacy of an uncle
and the plans of a father.
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