attitude toward her was always more deferential than to the other women.

Ben Sansome was the one exception to the first part of the above statement.
Her gentle but obvious withdrawals from his advances piqued his conceit.
Ben was a spoiled youth, with plenty of money; and he had always been a
spoiled youth, with plenty of money. Why he had come to San Francisco no
one knew. Possibly he did not know himself; for as his affairs had always
been idle, he had drifted much, and might have drifted here. Whatever the
reason, the fact remained that in this busy, new, and ambitious community
he was the one example professionally of the gilded youth. His waistcoats,
gloves, varnished boots, jewellery, handkerchiefs were always patterns to
the other amateur, gilded youths who had also other things to do. His
social tact was enormous, and a recognized institution. If there had been
cotillons, he would have led them; but as there were no cotillons, he
contented himself with being an _arbiter elegantiarum_. He rather prided
himself on his knowledge of such things as jades, old prints, and obscure
poets of whom nobody else had ever heard. Naturally he had always been a
great success with women, both as harmless parlour ornaments, and in more
dangerous ways. In San Francisco he had probably carried farther than he
would have carried anywhere else. He had sustained no serious reverses,
because difficult game had not heretofore interested him. Entering half
interestedly with Nan into what he vaguely intended as one of his numerous,
harmless, artistic, perfumed flirtationlets, he had found himself
unexpectedly held at arm's length. Just this was needed to fillip his
fancy. He went into the game as a game. Sansome made himself useful. By
dint of being on hand whenever Keith's carelessness had left her in need of
an escort, and only then, he managed to establish himself on a recognized
footing as a sort of privileged, charming, useful, harmless family friend.

Outside this small, rather lively coterie the Keiths had very few friends.