rely a coldly--no longer even bitterly--disillusioned woman, bored
with this enforced inaction in New York, welcoming a little adventure
to distract her mind from its brooding on the misery she had left
behind her in Europe, and on the future to which she had committed
herself. And a midnight adventure! She had shrugged her shoulders and
laughed again as she had admitted him.

But she felt no disposition to laugh as she sat alone in the chilling
room. She was both angry and appalled to remember that she had felt a
quivering, almost a distension of her nerves as she had sat there with
him in the silence and solitude of the night. That she had felt a warm
pleasure in the interest that betrayed him into positive impertinence,
and that a sick terror had shaken her when she saw that he was making
up his mind not to see her again. She had not betrayed herself for a
moment, she was too old a hand in the game of men and women for that,
and she had let him go without a sign, secure in the confidence that he
was at her beck; but she knew now, and her hands clenched and her face
distorted as she admitted it, that if he had suddenly snatched her in
his arms she would have flamed into passion and felt herself the
incarnation of youth and love.

Incredible. Unthinkable. She!

What should she do? Flee? She had come to New York for one purpose
only, to settle her financial affairs in the briefest possible time and
return to the country where her work lay. But she had been detained
beyond expectation, for the slow reorganization of one of the companies
in which a large portion of her fortune was invested would not be
complete without her final signature. There were other important
transfers to be made, and moreover Judge Trent had insisted that she
become thoroughly acquainted with her business affairs and able to
maintain an intelligent correspondence with her trustees when he
himself had retired. She had shown a remarkable aptitude for finance
and he was merciless in his insistence, demanding an hour of her time
every day.

Business. She hated the word. What did it matter---- But she knew
that it did matter, and supremely. She might have the beauty, the
brains, and the sex domination to win men to her way of thinking when
she launched herself into the maelstrom of politics, but she was well
aware that her large fortune would be half the battle. It furnished
the halo and the sinews, and it gave her the power to buy