there's some one here"--Lord was tactfully directing her
attention to another woman. Rhees Grier and McKibben, who were present
also, came to her assistance. In the hubbub that ensued Aileen was
temporarily extricated and Lynde tactfully steered out of her way. But
they had met again, and it was not to be the last time. Subsequent to
this second meeting, Lynde thought the matter over quite calmly, and
decided that he must make a definite effort to become more intimate
with Aileen. Though she was not as young as some others, she suited
his present mood exactly. She was rich physically--voluptuous and
sentient. She was not of his world precisely, but what of it? She was
the wife of an eminent financier, who had been in society once, and she
herself had a dramatic record. He was sure of that. He could win her
if he wanted to. It would be easy, knowing her as he did, and knowing
what he did about her.

So not long after, Lynde ventured to invite her, with Lord, McKibben,
Mr. and Mrs. Rhees Grier, and a young girl friend of Mrs. Grier who was
rather attractive, a Miss Chrystobel Lanman, to a theater and supper
party. The programme was to hear a reigning farce at Hooley's, then to
sup at the Richelieu, and finally to visit a certain exclusive
gambling-parlor which then flourished on the South Side--the resort of
actors, society gamblers, and the like--where roulette,
trente-et-quarante, baccarat, and the honest game of poker, to say
nothing of various other games of chance, could be played amid
exceedingly recherche surroundings.

The party was gay, especially after the adjournment to the Richelieu,
where special dishes of chicken, lobster, and a bucket of champagne
were served. Later at the Alcott Club, as the gambling resort was
known, Aileen, according to Lynde, was to be taught to play baccarat,
poker, and any other game that she wished. "You follow my advice, Mrs.
Cowperwood," he observed, cheerfully, at dinner--being host, he had put
her between himself and McKibben--"and I'll show you how to get your
money back anyhow. That's more than some others can do," he added,
spiritedly, recalling by a look a recent occasion when he and McKibben,
being out with friends, the latter had advised liberally and had seen
his advice go wrong.

"Have you been gambling, Kent?" asked Aileen, archly, turning to her
long-time social mentor and friend.

"No, I can honestly say I haven't," replied McKibben, with a bland
sm