old miner--was employed. She next
secured a Chinese cook, the best to be had, and a girl to do the
chamber-work. They were all busy as hornets, and Bertha lived in a glow
of excitement every waking hour of the day--though she did not show it.

Haney's check-book was quite as wonderful in its way as Aladdin's lamp,
and little by little the women permitted themselves to draw upon its
magic. The shining span of blacks, with flowing manes and champing bits,
became a feature of the avenue as the women drove up and down on their
never-ending quest for household luxuries--they had gone beyond mere
necessities. Mart usually went with them, sitting in the carriage while
they "visited" with the grocery clerks and furniture dealers. They were
very popular with these people, as was natural.

"Little Mrs. Haney" became at once the subject of endless
comment--mostly unfavorable; for Mart's saloon-made reputation was
well-known, and the current notion of a woman who would marry him was
not high. She was reported, in the alien circles of the town, to be a
vulgar little chamber-maid who had taken a gambler for his money at a
time when he was supposed to be on his death-bed, and her elevation to
the management of a palatial residence was pointed out as being
"peculiarly Western-American."

The men, however, were much more tolerant of judgment than their women.
They had become more or less hardened to seeing crude miners luxuriating
in sudden, accidental wealth; therefore, they nodded good-humoredly at
Haney and tipped their hats to his pretty wife with smiles. As bankers,
tradesmen, and taxpayers generally they could not afford to neglect a
citizen possessed of so much wealth and circumstance.

Mrs. Gilman presented a letter of introduction to the nearest church of
her own persuasion, and went to service quite as unassumingly as in
Sibley, and was greeted by a few of the ladies there cordially and
without hint of her son-in-law's connections. Two or three, including
the pastor's wife, made special effort to cultivate her acquaintance by
calling immediately, but they were not of those who attracted Bertha;
and though she showed them about the house and answered their questions,
she did not promise to call. "We're too busy," she explained. "I haven't
got more than half the rooms into shape, and, besides, we're to have my
brother's folks down from the Junction--we're on the hustle all day
long."

This was true. She had been quite besi