“On Mr. Duval’s?” he asked.

“No,” she said, “not his—­but everybody else’s!  He was telling me about it to-day—­there’s a most dreadful uproar.  He wanted me to try to find out what you were up to, and who was behind it.”

Montague listened, wonderingly.  Did Mrs. Winnie mean to imply that her husband had asked her to try to worm his business secrets out of him?  That was what she seemed to imply.  “I told him I never talked business with my friends,” she said.  “He can ask you himself, if he chooses.  But what does it all mean, anyhow?”

Montague smiled at the naive inconsistency.

“It means nothing,” said he, “except that I am trying to get justice for a client.”

“But can you afford to make so many powerful enemies?” she asked.

“I’ve taken my chances on that,” he replied.

Mrs. Winnie answered nothing, but looked at him with wondering admiration in her eyes.  “You arc different from the men about you,” she remarked, after a while-and her tone gave Montague to understand that there was one person who meant to stand by him.

But Mrs. Winnie Duval was not all Society.  Montague was amused to notice with what suddenness the stream of invitations slacked up; it was necessary for Alice to give her calling list many revisions.  Freddie Vandam had promised to invite them to his place on Long Island, and of course that invitation would never come; likewise they would never again see the palace of the Lester Todds, upon the Jersey mountain-top.

Oliver put in the next few days in calling upon people to explain his embarrassing situation.  He washed his hands of his brother’s affairs, he said; and his friends might do the same, if they saw fit.  With the Robbie Waitings he had a stormy half hour, about which he thought it best to say little to the rest of the family.  Robbie did not break with him utterly, because of their Wall Street Alliance; but Mrs. Robbie’s feeling was so bitter, he said, that it would be best if Alice saw nothing of her for a while.  He had a long talk with Alice, and explained the situation.  The girl was utterly dumbfounded, for she was deeply grateful to Mrs. Robbie, and fond of her as well; and she could not believe that a friend could be so cruelly unjust to her.

The upshot of the whole situation was a very painful episode.  A few days later Alice met Mrs. Robbie at a reception; and she took the lady aside, and tried to tell her how distressed and helpless she was.  And the result was that Mrs. Robbie flew into a passion and railed at her, declaring in the presence of several people that she had sponged upon her and abused her hospitality!  And so poor Alice came home, weeping and half hysterical.