"No, alas! She is in a sanitarium in Vienna and likely to remain there
for a long time. When Judge Trent wrote that it would be well for her
interests if she came to New York she asked me to come instead and gave
me her power of attorney. As my husband was killed in the first year
of the war and I had no other ties, I can assure you I was glad to
come." She shivered slightly. "Oh, yes! Vienna! To see so much
misery and to be able to give so little help! But now that Mary's and
my own fortune are restored I can assure you it gives me the greatest
satisfaction of my life to send a large share of our incomes to our
agent in Vienna."

This time there was an unmistakable ring of truth in her deep tones.
And she was human. Clavering had begun to doubt it, notwithstanding
her powerful disturbing magnetism. But was he falling in love with
her? He was attracted, dazzled, and he still felt romantic. But love!
In spite of his suspicions she seemed to move on a plane infinitely
remote.

"Shall you stay here?"

"Oh, for a time, yes. I cannot see Cousin Mary, and even Paris is
spoiled. Besides, Judge Trent wishes me to learn something of
business. He is growing old and says that women nowadays take an
interest in their investments. I certainly find it highly diverting."

"No doubt. But surely you will not continue to shut yourself up? You
could know any one you choose. Judge Trent has only to give you a
dinner. Unfortunately most of his respectable friends are a great many
years older than yourself----"

"I have no desire to know them. In Paris, off and on, I met many of
those elderly New York ladies of position. They all have that built-up
look, with hats too small and high for their bony old faces, which they
do not even soften with powder or the charming accessories of the
toilet known to every European woman of fashion. And feathers! Why
are they so fond of feathers--not charming drooping feathers, but a
sort of clipped hedge, all of a size, like a garden plot; sometimes
oblong, sometimes round? And why do they never look _a la mode_, in
spite of their expensive furs and materials?"

"That is the sign manual of their intense respectability. The old
regime would not compromise with fashion in all its extravagant changes
for the world. Moreover, it is their serene belief that they may dress
exactly as they choose, and they choose to keep an old tradition alive.
Are not English duchesses much the s