s a certain quality of genius. This much
Monte Covington had accomplished--accomplished, furthermore, without
placing himself under obligations of any sort to the opposite sex. He
left no trail of broken hearts in his wake. If some of the younger
sisters of the big sisters took the liberty of falling in love with him
secretly and in the privacy of their chambers, that was no fault of
his, and did neither them nor him the slightest harm.

Such minor complications could not very well be avoided, because,
discreet as Monte tried to be, it was not possible for him to deny
certain patent facts, to wit: that he was a Covington of Philadelphia;
that he was six feet tall and light-haired; that he had wonderfully
decent blue eyes; that he had a straight nose; that he had the firm
mouth and jaws of an Arctic explorer; that he had more money than he
knew what to do with; and that he was just old enough to be known as a
bachelor without in the slightest looking like one.

At the point where the older sisters gave him up as hopeless, he came
as a sort of challenge to the younger.

This might have proved dangerous for him had it not been for his
schedule, which did not leave him very long in any one place and which
kept him always pretty well occupied. By spending his winters at his
New York club until after the holidays; then journeying to Switzerland
for the winter sports; then to Nice for tennis; then to Paris for a
month of gay spring and the Grand Prix; and so over to England for a
few days in London and a month of golf along the coast--he was able to
come back refreshed to his camp in the Adirondacks, there to fish until
it was time to return to Cambridge for the football season, where he
found himself still useful as a coach in the art of drop-kicking.

The fact that he could get into his old football togs without letting
out any strings or pulling any in, and could even come through an
occasional scrimmage without losing his breath, was proof that he kept
himself in good condition.

It was not until his eleventh trip that Monte became aware of certain
symptoms which seemed to hint that even as pleasant a cycle as his
could not be pursued indefinitely. At Davos he first noted a change.
Though he took the curves in the long run with a daring that proved his
eye to be as quick and his nerves as steady as ever, he was restless.

Later, when he came to Nice, it was with a listlessness foreign to him.
In the first place,