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!”

CHAPTER XXI

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.