Manasseh | Page 3

his travelling-cap and
revealed a broad, arched forehead, surmounted by a luxuriant growth of
hair. Thick eyebrows, bright blue eyes, and a Greek nose were the
striking characteristics of his face, which seemed to combine the
peculiarities of so many types and races, that an observer would have
been at a loss to classify it.
The other gentleman of the party was of genuine Hungarian stock, stout
in figure and ruddy of countenance, with a pointed moustache, which
he constantly twirled. The younger of the two ladies was veiled, so that
only the graceful outlines of a face, evidently classic in its modelling,
were revealed to the eye. But the elder had thrown back her veil,
exposing to full view an honest, round face, blond hair, lively eyes, and
lips that manifestly found it irksome to maintain that silence which
good breeding imposes in the presence of a stranger.
The ladies' escort was a very uneasy travelling companion. First he
complained that he could not sit with his back toward the engine, as he
was sure to be car-sick. The young stranger accordingly changed places
with him. Then he found fault with his new seat, because it was
exposed to a draught which blew the cinders into his eyes. Thereupon
the young man promptly volunteered to close the window for him; but
this only made matters worse, for fresh air was indispensable. At this,
the blond lady gave up her place to the gentleman, and he, at last,
appeared satisfied. Not so, however, the lady herself; she was now
seated opposite the stranger, to whom she and her companions were so
greatly indebted, and the feeling of indebtedness is always somewhat
irksome.
Women on a journey are inclined to regard a stranger's approach with
some suspicion, and to be ever on the alert against adventurers. A
vague mistrust of this sort concerning the young stranger may have
been aroused by the mere fact that, Hungarian though his language
indicated him to be, he and the ladies' escort indulged in no interchange
of courtesies so natural among fellow-countrymen meeting by chance
in a foreign land. Nevertheless the blond lady strove to assume an air
that, on her part, should signify an entire absence of interest in all

things relating to her vis-à-vis. Even when the sun shone in her face and
annoyed her, she seemed determined to adjust the window-shade
without any help from the stranger, until he courteously prevailed on
her to accept his aid.
"Oh, what helpless creatures we women are!" she exclaimed as she
sank back into her seat.
"You have yourselves to blame for it," was the other's rejoinder.
If he had simply offered some vapid compliment, protesting, for
example, that women were by no means helpless creatures, but, on the
contrary, the rulers of the stronger sex, and so of the world,--then she
would have merely smiled sarcastically and relapsed into silence; but
there was something like a challenge in his unexpected retort.
"Par exemple?" she rejoined, with an involuntary show of interest.
"For example," he continued, "a lady voluntarily surrenders the
comfortable seat assigned to her, and exchanges with a man who
occupies an uncomfortable one."
The lady coloured slightly. "A free initiative," said she, "is seldom
possible with a woman. She is ever subject to a stronger will."
"Yet she need not be," was the reply; "with the fascination which she
exerts over men she is in reality the stronger."
"Ah, yes; but suppose that fascination is employed over a man by
women that have no right thus to use their power?"
"Then the legitimate possessor of that right is still at fault. If fascination
is the bond by which the man can be held, why does she not make use
of it herself? A face of statuesque beauty that knows not how to smile
has often been the cause of untold unhappiness."
At these words the younger of the two ladies threw back her veil,
perhaps to gain a better view of the speaker, and thus revealed just such

a face as the young man had referred to,--a face with large blue eyes
and silent lips.
"Would you, then," the elder lady continued the discussion with some
warmth, "have a wife employ the wiles of a coquette toward her own
husband, in order to retain his love?"
"I see no reason why she should not if circumstances demand it."
"Very good. But you must admit that a wife is something more than a
sweetheart; maternal duties and cares also enter into her life, and when,
by reason of her exalted mission as a mother, anxieties and fears will,
in spite of her, depict themselves on her face, what then becomes of
your pretty theory?"
The attack was becoming too warm for the young stranger, and