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1
Thus spoke the brave who was born and reared in the
2
wigwams of the tribe of the Manhattans .
The girl, after leaving her entertainer, sped swiftly cross-town
until she arrived at a handsome and sedate mansion two squares to the
east, facing on that avenue which is the highway of Mammon and the
3
auxiliary gods . Here she entered hurriedly and ascended to a room
where a handsome young lady in an elaborate house dress was
looking anxiously out the window.
"Oh, you madcap!" exclaimed the elder girl, when the other
entered. "When will you quit frightening us this way? It's two hours
since you ran out in that rag of an old dress and Marie's hat. Mamma
has been so alarmed. She sent Louis in the auto to try to find you.
You are a bad, thoughtless Puss."
The elder girl touched a button, and a maid came in a moment.
"Marie, tell mamma that Miss Marian has returned."
"Don't scold, Sister. I only ran down to Mme Theo's to tell her
to use mauve insertion instead of pink. My costume and Marie's hat
were just what I needed. Every one thought I was a shop-girl, I am
sure."
"Dinner is over, dear; you stayed so late."
"I know, I slipped on the sidewalk and turned my ankle. 1 could
not walk, so I hobbled into a restaurant and sat there until I was
better. That is why I was so long."
The two girls sat in the window seat, looking out at the lights
and the stream of hurrying vehicles in the avenue. The younger one
cuddled down with her head in her sister's lap.
"We will have to marry some day," she said, dreamily — "both
of us. We have so much money that we will not be allowed to
disappoint the public. Do you want me to tell you the kind of a man I
could love, Sis?"
"Go on, you scatter-brain," smiled the other.
"I could love a man with dark and kind blue eyes, who is gentle
and respectful to poor girls, who is handsome and good and does not

1
brave: a North American Indian warrior
2
the tribe of the Manhattan: an Indian tribe which inhabited the island until it
was sold to the Dutch in 1626.
3
the highway of Mammon and the auxiliary gods (metaphor): the district where
the rich live