Do you know, Mr. Williams wished to bet me a pair
of gloves that you buy stocks sometimes."
"He would have lost his bet."
"So I told him at once. But he didn't seem to believe me. I was sure you
never did. He appears to be very successful; but I let him see that I
knew it was gambling. You consider it gambling, don't you?"
"Not quite so bad as that. Some stock-brokers are gamblers; but the
occupation of buying and selling stocks for a commission is a well
recognized and fashionable business."
"Mr. Williams thinks that a great many Americans make money in
stocks--that we are gamblers as a nation."
"I am, in my heart, of the same opinion."
"Oh, Wilbur. I find you are not so good a patriot as I supposed."
"I hate bunkum."
"What is that?"
"Saying things for effect, and professing virtue which we do not
possess."
Selma was silent a moment. "What does champagne cost a bottle?"
"About three dollars and a half."
"Do you really think their house barbaric?"
"It certainly suggests to me heterogeneous barbaric splendor. They
bought their upholstery as they did their pictures, with free-handed
self-confidence. Occasionally they made a brilliant shot, but oftener
they never hit the target at all.
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