t
her from time to time in the evenings, and watched her gaiety which
frequently impressed him as a too noticeably moulded posture. It served,
nevertheless, admirably with the men of all ages who flocked about her
as if, indeed, she were a debutante once more.

In these groups George was glad not to see Dalrymple often, but he
noticed that Goodhue was near rather more than he had been formerly, and
he experienced a sharp uneasiness, an instinct to go to Goodhue and say:

"Don't. Keep away. She's caused enough unhappiness."

Still you couldn't tell about Goodhue. The very fact that he fluttered
near Sylvia might indicate that his real interest lay carefully
concealed, some distance away. He had, moreover, always stood singularly
aside from the pursuit of the feminine.

George's first meeting with Betty since her return was coloured by a
frank acceptance on her part of new conditions that revived his sense of
a sombre and helpless nostalgia. All was well with Betty. If there had
ever been any doubt in her Lambert had swept it away. Whatever emotion
she experienced for George was, in fact, that of a fond sister for a
brother; and George, studying her and Lambert, longed as he had never
done to find some such eager and confident content. The propulsion of
pure ambition slipped from his desire for Sylvia. With a growing wonder
he found himself craving through her just the satisfied simplicity so
clearly experienced by Lambert and Betty. Could anything make her
brilliancy less hard, less headstrong, less cruel?

George cast about for the means. Lambert was on watch. There was still
time--plenty of time.

He hadn't spoken again to Lambert about Dalrymple. There hadn't seemed
any point, for Lambert was entirely trustworthy, and, since Betty and he
lived for the present in the Fifth Avenue house, he saw Sylvia
constantly. Their conversation instead when they met for luncheon, as
they did frequently, revolved about threats which a few years back they
hadn't dreamed would ever face them. Blodgett, George noticed, didn't
point the finger of scorn at him for holding on to the mill stocks.
George wouldn't have minded if he had. They had originally cost him
little, their total loss would not materially affect his fortune, and he
was glad through them to have a personal share in the irritating and
absorbing evolution in the mills. He heard of Allen frequently as a
fiery and fairly successful organizer of trouble, and he sent for