that could be made."

Winfield said nothing, but the thought stuck in his mind. He was
dreaming a seaside improvement which should be the most perfect place of
its kind in the world--a monument to himself if he did it. If Eugene had
this idea of beauty he might help. At least he might talk to him about
it when the time came. Perhaps Eugene might have a little money to
invest. It would take millions to put such a scheme through, but every
little would help. Besides Eugene might have ideas which should make
money both for himself and for Winfield. It was worth thinking about. So
they parted, not to meet again for weeks and months, but they did not
forget each other.

BOOK III

THE REVOLT

CHAPTER I

It was when Eugene was at the height of his success that a meeting took
place between himself and a certain Mrs. Emily Dale.

Mrs. Dale was a strikingly beautiful and intelligent widow of
thirty-eight, the daughter of a well-to-do and somewhat famous New York
family of Dutch extraction--the widow of an eminent banker of
considerable wealth who had been killed in an automobile accident near
Paris some years before. She was the mother of four children, Suzanne,
eighteen; Kinroy, fifteen; Adele, twelve, and Ninette, nine, but the
size of her family had in no way affected the subtlety of her social
personality and the delicacy of her charm and manner. She was tall,
graceful, willowy, with a wealth of dark hair, which was used in the
most subtle manner to enhance the beauty of her face. She was calm,
placid apparently, while really running deep with emotion and fancies,
with manners which were the perfection of kindly courtesy and good
breeding and with those airs of superiority which come so naturally to
those who are raised in a fortunate and exclusive atmosphere.

She did not consider herself passionate in a marked degree, but freely
admitted to herself that she was vain and coquettish. She was keen and
observing, with a single eye to the main chance socially, but with a
genuine love for literature and art and a propensity to write. Eugene
met her through Colfax, who introduced him to her. He learned from the
latter that she was rather unfortunate in her marriage except from a
money point of view, and that her husband's death was no irreparable
loss. He also learned from the same source that she was a good mother,
trying to bring up her children in the manner most suitable to their
station and opportuniti