-he left
her without a cent.... And treated her quite badly, I hear," etc., etc.

Her two weeks' visit to the Kemps stretched to a month; there were many
little parties and engagements made for her, and then she went to
several suburban places to visit. Unlike other American cities summer is
almost the liveliest season in and around Chicago, for having its own
refrigerating plant at its door Chicago prefers to stay at home during
the hot weather and take its vacation in the raw spring. So Milly found
life very full and gay. And she perceived after a time a new spirit in
her old home,--the metropolitan spirit, which was funnily self-conscious
and proud of itself. "We too," every one seemed to be saying, "are
natives of no mean city." Milly heartily approved of this spirit. She
liked to think and to say that after all, in spite of her husband's
errancy, Chicago was also _her_ city.

So she had the best of times the ten weeks she spent in the strong young
metropolis, and saw a great many people new and old, and was more
popular than ever. She was well enough aware of those little plans kind
friends were making for her, matrimonially, but her heart seemed dead to
all men. She looked at them critically, and her heart gave no sign.

"I'm going to be a business woman," she announced to the Kemps one day.

"Milly in business! What do you think of that now?" the banker responded
with a good-natured laugh that covered the jeer. "What next?"

But his wife, with jealous promptitude, added,--

"Milly, you are a wonder!"

"Yes," Milly affirmed stoutly. "Wait, and you will see."

For in spite of all the good times, the flattery, and the social
pleasures, the great New Idea still simmered in her head. She would do
something "unusual," and "in Chicago too," which was the place for
originality and venture,--this big-hearted, hopeful city whose breath of
life was business, always business, and where people believed in one
another and looked favorably at "the new thing."

One day Milly stepped into the shop of the smart man-milliner, where in
her opulent maiden days she had got her hats,--"just to see what Bamberg
has this season." After chatting with the amiable proprietor, who, like
every one who had dealings with Milly, was fond of her (even if she did
not pay him promptly), Bamberg called to one of his young ladies to
bring Mrs. Bragdon a certain hat he wished her to try on. "One of my
last Paris things," he explained, "an abs