of the deliberation of male guests at a diplomatic dinner where there
has been an unfortunate incident involving dangerous possibilities if
known, called one another up on the telephone the next day and agreed
to "forget it." Even Dinwiddie never heard of it. As for Madame
Zattiany, she could be trusted to dismiss it from her contemptuous
mind. Nevertheless, these young women, who had entertained her almost
constantly, pointedly omitted her from their luncheons and dinners and
parties--in her new lightheartedness she had been induced to attend
several parties during the past six weeks. And they had little
difficulty in persuading others to follow their example. The more
amiable of the younger women might have looked upon their attack that
night with horror if they had heard of it, as, indeed, several at the
dinner had done, but they were no more enthusiastic over the "foreign
invasion" than their militant sisters. The remonstrances of the men
were unheeded, and when one or two tried to arrange theatre parties or
dinners in Madame Zattiany's honor they received graceful regrets.

Even the attitude of her older friends had changed, now that the
dramatic novelty of her return to them, and their first determined
enthusiasm, had worn off. They were betraying more and more their
disapproval of what she had done, the more so perhaps, as the majority
of them, being excessively thin, might have accomplished a like result
had not their standards protected them. This naturally inspired them
with a full realization of their superiority, which increased daily.

If she had made the attempt and failed it would have been bad enough,
for such violations of the law of orthodoxy insulted the code in which
she had been born and reared: but triumphantly to have succeeded in
making herself young again while the rest of them were pursuing their
unruffled way to the grave was a deliberate insult both to themselves
and to God.

Moreover, they hardly knew what to talk to her about, and although this
might still have been the case had she returned to them carrying aloft
the crinkled and spotted flag of time, so far apart their lines had
run, her scientific victory added an ever-increasing irritant. Also,
she had never been a "woman's woman," and it was patent that, as ever,
she was far more animated in the company of men. Inevitably, old
scandals were raked up. They had been frowned upon in the days when
she was protected by her hu