who fought the elements from the decks of ten thousand
ships—to bring all these things here to
be destroyed. Step by step, as the flood of extravagance
rose, and the energies of the men were turned to the
creation of futility and corruption—so,
step by step, increased the misery and degradation
of all these slaves of Mammon. And who could
imagine what they would think about it—if
ever they came to think?
—And then, in a sudden flash, there came
back to Montague that speech he had heard upon the
street-corner, the first evening he had been in New
York! He could hear again the pounding of the
elevated trains, and the shrill voice of the orator;
he could see his haggard and hungry face, and the
dense crowd gazing up at him. And there came
to him the words of Major Thorne:
“It means another civil war!”
Alice had been gone for a couple of weeks, and the
day was drawing near when the Hasbrook case came up
for trial. The Saturday before that being the
date of the Mi-careme dance of the Long Island Hunt
Club, Siegfried Harvey was to have a house-party for
the week-end, and Montague accepted his invitation.
He had been working hard, putting the finishing touches
to his brief, and he thought that a rest would be
good for him.
He and his brother went down upon Friday afternoon,
and the first person he met was Betty Wyman, whom
he had not seen for quite a while. Betty had
much to say, and said it. As Montague had not
been seen with Mrs. Winnie since the episode in her
house, people had begun to notice the break, and there
was no end of gossip; and Mistress Betty wanted to
know all about it, and how things stood between them.
But he would not tell her, and so she saucily refused
to tell him what she had heard. All the while
they talked she was eyeing him quizzically, and it
was evident that she took the worst for granted; also
that he had become a much more interesting person to
her because of it. Montague had the strangest
sensatibns when he was talking with Betty Wyman; she
was delicious and appealing, almost irresistible;
and yet her views of life were so old! “I
told you you wouldn’t do for a tame cat!”
she said to him.
Then she went on to talk to him about his case, and
to tease him about the disturbance he had made.
“You know,” she said, “Ollie and
I were in terror—we thought that grandfather
would be furious, and that we’d be ruined.
But somehow, it didn’t work out that way.
Don’t you say anything about it, but I’ve
had a sort of a fancy that he must be on your side
of the fence.”
“I’d be glad to know it,” said Montague,
with a laugh—“I’ve been trying
for a long time to find out who is on my side of the
fence.”
“He was talking about it the other day,”
said Betty, “and I heard him tell a man that
he’d read your argument, and thought it was
good.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” said Montague.
