"I'll be a good friend to you, honestly I will.

I'll treat you as if you were--you were--" "A gentleman," finished Gabriella, and smiled in spite of herself.

After all, what was the use of resenting the facts of life?
What was the use of reproaching the mud that spattered over one's clothes?
"Well, that's a bargain.

I'll treat you as a gentleman." There was a fine quality about the man; she could not deny it.
"I'll forgive you then and forget it." It was the tolerant Gabriella who spoke--the Gabriella of disillusioning experience and a clear vision of life--not the impassioned idealist of the 'nineties.

When all was said, you had to take men and things as you found them.