THE DOMINANT STRAIN
THE
DOMINANT STRAIN
BY
ANNA CHAPIN RAY
AUTHOR OF "TEDDY, HER BOOK," "PHEBE, HER PROFESSION,"
"TEDDY, HER DAUGHTER," "NATHALIE'S CHUM,"
"EACH LIFE UNFULFILLED"
ILLUSTRATED BY
HARRY C. EDWARDS
BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1903
Copyright, 1903,
By Little, Brown, and Company.
All rights reserved
Published May, 1903
UNIVERSITY PRESS · JOHN WILSON
AND SON · CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.
ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM DRAWINGS IN COLOR BY HARRY C. EDWARDS
| "'Beatrix?' he said" | Frontispiece |
| "'Can't you make any sort of an excuse for yourself, Sidney?' she demanded" | Page 123 |
| "It was so that Thayer liked best to think of her" | " 205 |
| "Beatrix still sat at the disordered table" | " 245 |
| "'I believe I might as well ask you now'" | " 339 |
THE DOMINANT STRAIN
CHAPTER ONE
Beatrix smiled a little wearily. Intimate friends are sometimes cloying,and she felt a certain irritation rising within her, as she watchedSally's bright face under her French toque, and listened to the easystream of chatter which issued from Sally's lips. Sally had never facedsuch a crisis as the one confronting Beatrix, that day. Moreover, shehad dimples, and it was impossible to believe in the sympathy of aperson whose dimples insisted upon coming into sight, even in the midstof serious discussion.
"If he hasn't already," Sally persisted; "he is bound to do it beforethe season is over. Then what shall you tell him?"
"Aren't you rushing things a little?" Beatrix inquired languidly."Please do remember that I only met Mr. Lorimer at the Horse Show, andthat it is three weeks to Lent."
"That's nothing," Sally replied flatly, but flippantly. "You subjugatedEric Stanford in[Pg 2] half that time, and his gray matter has been in apulpy condition ever since."
"I didn't know it."
"About his gray matter?"
"Oh, that is congenital trouble. I mean I didn't know that I hadsubjugated him. Besides, that is different. He was Bobby Dane's chum,and we took him into