It was the first time that he had ever had any occasion to talk with Miss Hegan.  He noticed her gentle and caressing voice, with the least touch of the South in it; and he was glad to find that it was possible for her to talk without breaking the spell of her serene and noble beauty.  Montague stayed as long as he had any right to stay.

And all the way as he rode home he was thinking about Laura Hegan.  Here for the first time was a woman whom he felt he should like to know; a woman with reserve and dignity, and some ideas in her life.  And it was impossible for him to know her—­because she was rich!

There was no dodging this fact—­Montague did not even try.  He had met women with fortunes already, and he knew how they felt about themselves, and how the rest of the world felt about them.  They might wish in their hearts to be something else besides the keepers of a treasure-chest, but their wishes were futile; the money went with them, and they had to defend it against all comers.  Montague recalled one heiress after another—­debutantes, some of them, exquisite and delicate as butterflies—­but under the surface as hard as chain-armour.  All their lives they had been trained to think of themselves as representing money, and of every one who came near them as adventurers seeking money.  In every word they uttered, in every glance and motion, one might read this meaning.  And then he thought of Laura Hegan, with the fortune she would inherit; and he pictured what her life must be—­the toadies and parasites and flatterers who would lay siege to her—­the scheming mammas and the affectionate sisters and cousins who would plot to gain her confidence!  For a man who was poor, and who meant to keep his self-respect, was there any possible conclusion except that she was entirely unknowable to him?

CHAPTER XVI

Montague came back to the city, and dug into his books again; while Alice gave her spare hours to watching the progress of the new gown in which she was to uphold the honour of the family at Mrs. Devon’s opening ball.  The great event was due in the next week and Society was as much excited about it as a family of children before Christmas.  All whom Montague met were invited and all were going unless they happened to be in mourning.  Their gossip was all of the disappointed ones, and their bitterness and heartburning.

Mrs. Devon’s mansion was thrown open early on the eventful evening, but few would come until midnight.  It was the fashion to attend the Opera first, and previous to that half a dozen people would give big dinners.  He was a fortunate person who did not hear from his liver after this occasion; for at one o’clock came Mrs. Devon’s massive supper, and then again at four o’clock another supper.  To prepare these repasts a dozen extra chefs had been imported into the Devon establishment for a week—­for it was part of the great lady’s pride to permit no outside caterer to prepare anything for her guests.