Ten years ago Mrs. Harper had overwhelmed New York with the millions brought from her great department-store; and had then moved on, sighing for new worlds to conquer. When she had left Chicago, her grammar had been unexceptionable; but since she had been in England, she said "you ain"t" and dropped all her g"s; and when Montague brought down a bird at long range, she exclaimed, condescendingly, "Why, you"re quite a dab at it!" He sat in the front seat of an automobile, and heard the great lady behind him referring to the st.u.r.dy Jersey farmers, whose ancestors had fought the British and Hessians all over the state, as "your peasantry."
It was an extraordinary privilege to have Mrs. Harper for a guest; "at home" she moved about in state recalling that of Queen Victoria, with flags and bunting on the way, and crowds of school children cheering.
She kept up half a dozen establishments, and had a hundred thousand acres of game preserves in Scotland. She made a speciality of collecting jewels which had belonged to the romantic and picturesque queens of history. She appeared at the dance in a breastplate of diamonds covering the entire front of her bodice, so that she was literally clothed in light; and with her was her English friend, Mrs.
Percy, who had accompanied her in her triumph through the courts and camps of Europe, and displayed a famous lorgnette-chain, containing one specimen of every rare and beautiful jewel known. Mrs. Percy wore a gown of cloth of gold tissue, covered with a fortune in Venetian lace, and made a tremendous sensation--until the rumour spread that it was a rehash of the costume which Mrs. Harper had worn at the d.u.c.h.ess of London"s ball. The Chicago lady herself never by any chance appeared in the same costume twice.
Alice had a grand time at the Todds"; all the men fell in love with her--one in particular, a young chap named Fayette, quite threw himself at her feet. He was wealthy, but unfortunately he had made his money by eloping with a rich girl (who was one of the present party), and so, from a practical point of view, his attentions were not desirable for Alice.
Montague was left with the task of finding these things out for himself, for his brother devoted himself exclusively to Betty Wyman.
The way these two disappeared between meals was a jest of the whole company; so that when they were on their way home, Montague felt called upon to make paternal inquiries.
"We"re as much engaged as we dare to be," Oliver answered him.
"And when do you expect to marry her?"
"G.o.d knows," said he, "I don"t. The old man wouldn"t give her a cent."
"And you couldn"t support her?"
"I? Good heavens, Allan--do you suppose Betty would consent to be poor?"
"Have you asked her?" inquired Montague.
"I don"t want to ask her, thank you! I"ve not the least desire to live in a hovel with a girl who"s been brought up in a palace."
"Then what do you expect to do?"
"Well, Betty has a rich aunt in a lunatic asylum. And then I"m making money, you know--and the old boy will have to relent in the end. And we"re having a very good time in the meanwhile, you know."
"You can"t be very much in love," said Montague--to which his brother replied cheerfully that they were as much in love as they felt like being.
This was on the train Monday morning. Oliver observed that his brother relapsed into a brown study, and remarked, "I suppose you"re going back now to bury yourself in your books. You"ve got to give me one evening this week for a dinner that"s important."
"Where"s that?" asked the other.
"Oh, it"s a long story," said Oliver. "I"ll explain it to you some time. But first we must have an understanding about next week, also--I suppose you"ve not overlooked the fact that it"s Christmas week. And you won"t be permitted to do any work then."
"But that"s impossible!" exclaimed the other.
"Nothing else is possible," said Oliver, firmly. "I"ve made an engagement for you with the Eldridge Devons up the Hudson--"
"For the whole week?"
"The whole week. And it"ll be the most important thing you"ve done.
Mrs. Winnie"s going to take us all in her car, and you will make no end of indispensable acquaintances."
"Oliver, I don"t see how in the world I can do it!" the other protested in dismay, and went on for several minutes arguing and explaining what he had to do. But Oliver contented himself with the a.s.surance that where there"s a will, there"s a way. One could not refuse an invitation to spend Christmas with the Eldridge Devons!
And sure enough, there was a way. Mr. Hasbrook had mentioned to him that he had had considerable work done upon the case, and would have the papers sent round. And when Montague reached his office that morning, he found them there. There was a package of several thousand pages; and upon examining them, he found to his utter consternation that they contained a complete bill of complaint, with all the necessary references and citations, and a preliminary draught of a brief--in short, a complete and thoroughgoing preparation of his case.
There could not have been less than ten or fifteen thousand dollars"
worth of work in the papers; and Montague sat quite aghast, turning over the neatly typewritten sheets. He could indeed afford to attend Christmas house parties, if all his clients were to treat him like this!
He felt a little piqued about it--for he had noted some of these points for himself, and felt a little proud about them. Apparently he was to be nothing but a figure-head in the case! And he turned to the phone and called up Mr. Hasbrook, and asked him what he expected him to do with these papers. There was the whole case here; and was he simply to take them as they stood?
No one could have replied more considerately than did Mr. Hasbrook. The papers were for Montague"s benefit--he would do exactly as he pleased with them. He might use them as they stood, or reject them altogether, or make them the basis for his own work--anything that appealed to his judgment would be satisfactory. And so Montague turned about and wrote an acceptance to the formal invitation which had come from the Eldridge Devons.
Later on in the day Oliver called up, and said that he was to go out to dinner the following evening, and that he would call for him at eight.
"It"s with the Jack Evanses," Oliver added. "Do you know them?"
Montague had heard the name, as that of the president of a chain of Western railroads. "Do you mean him?" he asked.
"Yes," said the other. "They"re a rum crowd, but there"s money in it.
I"ll call early and explain it to you."
But it was explained sooner than that. During the next afternoon Montague had a caller--none other than Mrs. Winnie Duval. Some one had left Mrs. Winnie some more money, it appeared; and there was a lot of red tape attached to it, which she wanted the new lawyer to attend to.
Also, she said, she hoped that he would charge her a lot of money by way of encouraging himself. It was a mere bagatelle of a hundred thousand or so, from some forgotten aunt in the West.
The business was soon disposed of, and then Mrs. Winnie asked Montague if he had any place to go to for dinner that evening: which was the occasion of his mentioning the Jack Evanses. "O dear me!" said Mrs.
Winnie, with a laugh. "Is Ollie going to take you there? What a funny time you"ll have!"
"Do you know them?" asked the other.
"Heavens, no!" was the answer. "n.o.body knows them; but everybody knows about them. My husband meets old Evans in business, of course, and thinks he"s a good sort. But the family--dear me!"
"How much of it is there?"
"Why, there"s the old lady, and two grown daughters and a son. The son"s a fine chap, they say--the old man took him in hand and put him at work in the shops. But I suppose he thought that daughters were too much of a proposition for him, and so he sent them to a fancy school--and, I tell you, they"re the most highly polished human specimens that ever you encountered!"
It sounded entertaining. "But what does Oliver want with them?" asked Montague, wonderingly.
"It isn"t that he wants them--they want him. They"re c.u.mbers, you know--perfectly frantic. They"ve come to town to get into Society."
"Then you mean that they pay Oliver?" asked Montague.
"I don"t know that," said the other, with a laugh. "You"ll have to ask Ollie. They"ve a number of the little brothers of the rich hanging round them, picking up whatever plunder"s in sight."
A look of pain crossed Montague"s face; and she saw it, and put out her hand with a sudden gesture. "Oh!" she exclaimed, "I"ve offended you!"
"No," said he, "it"s not that exactly--I wouldn"t be offended. But I"m worried about my brother."
"How do you mean?"
"He gets a lot of money somehow, and I don"t know what it means."
The woman sat for a few moments in silence, watching him. "Didn"t he have any when he came here?" she asked.
"Not very much," said he.
"Because," she went on, "if he didn"t, he certainly managed it very cleverly--we all thought he had."