"It is one of the many enigmas of fashionable society which I can
never account for: why the most worthless, debauched and dissipated
young men are fawned upon, lionized and courted by the most
respectable mothers and matrons, and allowed the full liberty of
their ball-rooms, drawing-rooms, salons, &c., claiming the most
virtuous maidens for their amusement and pastime! And further, an
honest-minded young man, who leads a strictly moral life, and labors
hard to gain a reputation for himself, is cast aside or scorned as a
mere nobody!"
"It is too true, Hester, I can fully endorse what you say. I have
indeed turned away in disgust from fashionable resorts when I have
seen young men of the most vicious habits contaminating the very air
with their dissoluteness, flirting and dancing with the pure-minded
girls who would have shrunk away in loathing could they hare seen
the same young men at a later hour in dens of iniquity."
Mr. Verne was excited; he thought of his lovely Marguerite, and a
pang shot through his heart, causing his face and lips to become
ashy white.
"It is a disagreeable subject to broach, but I cannot help it,
Stephen--I mean Hubert Tracy," said Mrs.
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