"No ma'm,--but I--"

"Yes, I must have done it, else you would not have offered your services,

for fear it might be rude. But don't be troubled--it was all my fault.

I ought not to have been so heedless--I ought not to have asked you."

"But you didn't ask me, ma'm. We always help customers all we can.

You see our experience--living right among books all the time--that sort

of thing makes us able to help a customer make a selection, you know."

Now does it, indeed? It is part of your business, then?"

Yes'm, we always help."

How good it is of you. Some people would think it rather obtrusive,

perhaps, but I don't--I think it is real kindness--even charity. Some

people jump to conclusions without any thought--you have noticed that?"

O yes," said the clerk, a little perplexed as to whether to feel

comfortable or the reverse; "Oh yes, indeed, I've often noticed that,

ma'm."

Yes, they jump to conclusions with an absurd heedlessness. Now some

people would think it odd that because you, with the budding tastes and

the innocent enthusiasms natural to your time of life, enjoyed the

382

The Gilded Age