hen anxious to have the ordeal passed, and fearful that she might not
acquit herself satisfactorily to 'Lina, who, without seeming to notice
her, had drawn near enough to hear, she added: "Miss 'Lina is an airey,
a very large airey, and has a heap of--of--" Lulu hardly knew what, but
finally in desperation added: "a heap of a'rs," and then fled away ere
another question could be asked her.

"What did she say she was?" Mrs. Richards asked, and the doctor replied:

"She said an airey. She meant an heiress."

Money, or the reputation of possessing money, is an all-powerful charm,
and in few places does it show its power more plainly than at Saratoga,
where it was soon known that the lady from Spring Bank, with pearls in
her hair, and pearl bracelets on her arms, was heiress to immense wealth
in Kentucky, how immense nobody knew, and various were the estimates put
upon it. Among Mrs. Bufort's clique it was twenty thousand, farther away
in another hall it was fifty, while Mrs. Richards, ere the supper hour
arrived, had heard that it was at least a hundred thousand dollars. How
or where she heard it she hardly knew, but she indorsed the statement as
current, and at the tea table that night was exceedingly gracious to
'Lina and her mother, offering to divide a little private dish which she
had ordered for herself, and into which poor Mrs. Worthington
inadvertently dipped, never dreaming that it was not common property.

"It was not of the slightest consequence, Mrs. Richards was delighted to
share it with her," and that was the way the conversation commenced.

'Lina knew now that the proud man whose lip had curled so scornfully at
dinner was Ellen's Dr. Richards, and Dr. Richards knew that the girl who
sat on the floor was 'Lina Worthington, from Spring Bank, where Alice
Johnson was going.

CHAPTER XVI

THE COLUMBIAN

It was very quiet at the Columbian, and the few gentlemen seated upon
the piazza seemed to be of a different stamp from those at the more
fashionable houses, as there were none of them smoking, nor did they
stare impertinently at the gayly-dressed lady coming-up the steps, and
inquiring of the clerk if Miss Alice Johnson were there.

Yes, she was, and her room was No. ----. Should he send the lady's card?
Miss Johnson had mostly kept her room.

'Lina had brought no card, but she gave her name, and passed on into the
parlor, which afforded a striking contrast to the beehive downtown. In a
corner