all be raving belles," said Rose. "If Helena were so much as
doubled, the men would be gibbering idiots. I don't care, so long as I
have a good time; and I hold my own. So do you. As for Tiny, she may not
be mobbed, but she has one man in love with her after another. As soon
as poor Charley Rollins got his conge, Bob Payne took the vacant seat,
and I see a third climbing over the horizon with business in his eye.
There can be only one sun, but we're all stars of the first magnitude."

"But we'd each like to be the sun, all the same."

V

Magdalena, although much interested in Helena's performances, felt at
times as if dream-walking, half expecting to awaken at the foot of her
little altar. In the days when she had prayed, full of faith, for beauty
and its triumphs, although ignorance had handled the brush of her
imagination, yet the vigorous outline sketch had closely resembled all
that was now the portion of her friend. She pondered on the fancy she
had had as a child that Helena realised all her own little ambitions.
She certainly had realised all her larger, but one. She dreaded to ask
Helena if she had ever cared to write, fearing to surprise a confession
to the authorship of the novel of the day. This, she concluded, after
due reflection, was exaggeration; for if Helena had written, even
without publication, she certainly would have talked about it, reticence
being no vice of hers. But the suggestion might prick a latent talent
into action. This was just the one thing Magdalena could not endure, and
she decided to let the talent sleep. The rest mattered little, aside
from the sense of failure which the vicarious accomplishment of ambition
must always induce; for she had her advantage of Helena, the greatest
one woman can have of another. She was happy, but Helena was only
satisfied for the moment; so restless and passionate a heart would not
long remain content with the husks. It was true that Trennahan had not
gone mad over herself as other men over Helena; but what of that? It was
a question of years alone.

It was now three months since he had left California. He had found his
mother's affairs in a serious condition, but had managed to gather up
the threads, and the knot would be tied before long. There was no doubt
about his desire to return. In fact, as the time waned, his ardour
waxed. Sometimes Magdalena was driven to wonder if his yearning for
California or herself were the greater; but on the w