"But you've given me what I don't possess. Wild is sure to be up. These things were common knowledge among the bon ton, who were generously welcoming these unfortunate escapees. Was it that the struggle of things to survive produced as a sort of necessary byproduct these intense preferences and appreciations, or was it that some mystical outer thing, some great force, drove life beautyward, even in spite of expediency, regardless of survival value and all the manifest discretions of life? She went to Capes with that riddle and put it to him very carefully and clearly, and he talked well—he always talked at some length when she took a difficulty to him—and sent her to a various literature upon the markings of butterflies, the incomprehensible elaboration and splendor of birds of Paradise and hummingbirds’ plumes, the patterning of tigers, and a leopard’s spots. Of course I know nothing of what really did happen in Paris—if even you ever saw him there. "I give you one minute for reflection. Well, after all, he seemed to be turning the subject. "But your dreadful projects will recoil on your own head. V.