ue." Jim Hegan!
Montague repressed a stare and took the chair which they offered him.
"Have a cigar," said Hegan, holding out his case.

"Mr. Montague has just come to New York," said the Major. "He is a
Southerner, too."

"Indeed?" said Hegan, and inquired what State he came from. Montague
replied, and added, "I had the pleasure of meeting your daughter last
week, at the Horse Show."

That served to start a conversation; for Hegan came from Texas, and
when he found that Montague knew about horses--real horses--he warmed
to him. Then the Major's party called him away, and the other two were
left to carry on the conversation.

It was very easy to chat with Hegan; and yet underneath, in the other's
mind, there lurked a vague feeling of trepidation, as he realized that
he was chatting with a hundred millions of dollars. Montague was new
enough at the game to imagine that there ought to be something strange,
some atmosphere of awe and mystery, about a man who was master of a
dozen railroads and of the politics of half a dozen States. He was
simple and very kindly in his manner, a plain man, interested in plain
things. There was about him, as he talked, a trace of timidity, almost
of apology, which Montague noticed and wondered at. It was only later,
when he had time to think about it, that he realized that Hegan had
begun as a farmer's boy in Texas, a "poor white"; and could it be that
after all these years an instinct remained in him, so that whenever he
met a gentleman of the old South he stood by with a little deference,
seeming to beg pardon for his hundred millions of dollars?

And yet there was the power of the man. Even chatting about horses, you
felt it; you felt that there was a part of him which did not chat, but
which sat behind and watched. And strangest of all, Montague found
himself fancying that behind the face that smiled was another face,
that did not smile, but that was grim and set. It was a strange face,
with its broad, sweeping eyebrows and its drooping mouth; it haunted
Montague and made him feel ill at ease.

There came Laura Hegan, who greeted them in her stately way; and Mrs.
Hegan, bustling and vivacious, costumed en grande dame. "Come and see
me some time," said the man. "You won't be apt to meet me otherwise,
for I don't go about much." And so they took their departure; and
Montague sat alone and smoked and thought. The face still stayed with
him; and now suddenly, in a burst of light, it