ly good were there--the sturdy, respectable, and
sometimes dowdy good; also the intellectuals--for ten expensive days at
a time--for it is a deplorable fact that the unworthy frivolous
monopolise all the money in the world! And there, too, were
excursionists from East and West and North and South, tired,
leaden-eyed, uncomfortable, eating luncheons on private lawns, trooping
to see some trained alligators in a muddy pool, resting by roadsides
and dunes in the apathy of repletion, the sucked orange suspended to
follow with narrowing eyes the progress of some imported hat or gown.

And the bad were there; not the very, very bad perhaps; but the
doubtful; over-jewelled, over-tinted of lip and brow and cheek, with
shoes too shapely and waists too small and hair too bright and wavy,
and--but dusty alpaca and false front cannot do absolute justice to a
pearl collar and a gown of lace; and tired, toil-dimmed eyes may make
mistakes, especially as it is already a tradition that America goes to
Palm Beach to cut up shindies, or watch others do it.

So they were all there, the irreproachable, the amusing, the inevitable,
the intellectual, the good, and the bad, the onduled, and the scant of
hair.

And, belonging to one or more of these divisions, Portlaw, Wayward, and
Malcourt were there--had been there, now, for several weeks, the latter
as a guest at the Cardross villa. For the demon of caprice had seized on
Wayward, and half-way to Miami he had turned back for no reason under
the sun apparently--though Constance Palliser had been very glad to see
him after so many years.

The month had made a new man of Hamil. For one thing he had become more
or less acclimated; he no longer desired to sleep several times a day,
he could now assimilate guavas without disaster, and walk about without
acquiring headaches or deluging himself in perspiration. For another he
was enchanted with his work and with Shiela Cardross, and with the
entire Cardross family.

The month had been a busy one for him. When he was not in the saddle
with Neville Cardross the work in the new office and draughting-room
required his close attention. Already affairs were moving briskly; he
had leased a cottage for his office work; draughtsmen had arrived and
were fully occupied, half a dozen contractors appeared on the spot, also
a forester and assistants, and a surveyor and staff. And the energetic
Mr. Cardross, also, was enjoying every minute of his life.

Hami