What had gone of her beauty had been replaced by a keen knowledge of human nature and of men, so she determined to give herself up entirely to a life of gain.  She knows just how much champagne should be drunk without injuring one’s health.  She knows just what physical necessities should be indulged in to preserve to the greatest degree her remaining beauty.  There is no trick of the hair-dresser, the modiste, the manicurist, or any one of the legion of people who devote their time to aiding the outward fascinations of women, which she does not know.  She knows exactly what perfumes to use, what stockings to wear, how she should live, how far she should indulge in any dissipation; and all this she has determined to devote to profit.  She knows that as an actress she has no future; that the time of a woman’s beauty is limited.  Conscious that she has already lost the youthful litheness of figure which had made her so fascinating in the past, she has laid aside every sentiment, physical and spiritual, and has determined to choose a man as her companion who has the biggest bank-roll and the most liberal nature.  His age, his station in life, the fact whether she likes or dislikes him, do not enter into this scheme at all.  She figures that she has been made a fool of by men, and that there is only one revenge,—­the accumulation of a fortune to make her independent of them once and for all.  There are, of course, certain likes and dislikes that she enjoys, and in a way she indulges them.  There are men whose company she cares for, but their association is practically sexless and has come down to a point of mere good fellowship.

WILLARD BROCKTON, a New York broker, is an honest sensualist, and when one says an honest sensualist, the meaning is—­a man who has none of the cad in his character, who takes advantage of no one, and who allows no one to take advantage of him.  He honestly detests any man who takes advantage of a pure woman.  He detests any man who deceives a woman.  He believes that there is only one way to go through life, and that is to be frank with those with whom one deals.  He is a master-hand in stock manipulation, and in the questionable practises of Wall Street he has realized that he has to play his cunning and craft against the cunning and craft of others.  He is not at all in sympathy with this mode of living, but he thinks it is the only method by which he can succeed in life.  He measures success by the accumulation of money, but he considers his business career as a thing apart from his private existence.

He does not associate, to any great extent, with what is known as “society.”  He keeps in touch with it simply to maintain his business position.  There is always an inter-relationship among the rich in business and private life, and he gives such entertainments as are necessary to the members of New York’s exclusive set, simply to make certain his relative position with other successful Wall Street men.