again. And what I want to know is, why is it that you have to do things
to make enemies of everybody you know?"

Montague said nothing; he was trembling with anger.

"What in the world did you do to her?" began the other. "Can't you
trust me---"

And suddenly Montague sprang to his feet. "Oh, Oliver," he exclaimed,
"let me alone! Go away!"

And he went into the next room and slammed the door, and began pacing
back and forth like a caged animal.

It was a lie! It was a lie! Mrs. Winnie had never said such a thing! He
would never believe it--it was a nasty piece of backstairs gossip!

But then a new burst of rage swept over him What did it matter Whether
it was true or not--whether anything was true or not? What did it
matter if anybody had done all the hideous and loathsome things that
everybody else said they had done? It was what everybody was saying! It
was what everybody believed--what everybody was interested in! It was
the measure of a whole society--their ideals and their standards! It
was the way they spent their time, repeating nasty scandals about each
other; living in an atmosphere of suspicion and cynicism, with endless
whispering and leering, and gossip of lew intrigue.

A flood of rage surged up within him, and swept him, away--rage against
the world into which he had come, and against himself for the part he
had played in it. Everything seemed to have come to a head at once; and
he hated everything--hated the people he had met, and the things they
did, and the things they had tempted him to do. He hated the way he had
got his money, and the way he had spent it. He hated the idleness and
wastefulness, the drunkenness and debauchery, the meanness and the
snobbishness.

And suddenly he turned and flung open the door of the room where Oliver
still sat. And he stood in the doorway, exclaiming, "Oliver, I'm done
with it!"

Oliver stared at him. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean," cried his brother, "that I've had all I can stand of
'Society!' And I'm going to quit. You can go on--but I don't intend to
take another step with you! I've had enough--and I think Alice has had
enough, also. We'll take ourselves off your hands--we'll get out!"

"What are you going to do?" gasped Oliver.

"I'm going to give up these expensive apartments--give them up
to-morrow, when our week is up. And I'm going to stop squandering money
for things I don't want. I'm going to stop accepting invitations, and
meeting