" which
had cost three-quarters of a million dollars and was set in a preserve
of ten thousand acres, he was prepared for Adirondack "camps" which had
cost half a million and Newport "cottages" which had cost a million or
two.

Liveried servants took the car, and others opened the door and took
their coats. The first thing they saw was a huge, fireplace, a
fireplace a dozen feet across, made of great boulders, and with whole
sections of a pine tree blazing in it. Underfoot was polished hardwood,
with skins of bear and buffalo. The firelight flickered upon shields
and battle-axes and broad-swords, hung upon the oaken pillars; while
between them were tapestries, picturing the Song of Roland and the
battle of Roncesvalles. One followed the pillars of the great hall to
the vaulted roof, whose glass was glowing blood-red in the western
light. A broad stairway ascended to the second floor, which opened upon
galleries about the hall.

Montague went to the fire, and stood rubbing his hands before the
grateful blaze. "Scotch or Irish, sir?" inquired a lackey, hovering at
his side. He had scarcely given his order when the door opened and a
second motor load of the party appeared, shivering and rushing for the
fire. In a couple of minutes they were all assembled--and roaring with
laughter over "Baby" de Mille's account of how her car had run over a
dachshund. "Oh, do you know," she cried, "he simply POPPED!"

Half a dozen attendants hovered about, and soon the tables in the hall
were covered with trays containing decanters and siphons. By this means
everybody in the party was soon warmed up, and then in groups they
scattered to amuse themselves.

There was a great hall for indoor tennis, and there were half a dozen
squash-courts. Montague knew neither of these games, but he was
interested in watching the water-polo in the swimming-tank, and in
studying the appointments of this part of the building. The tank, with
the walls and floor about it, were all of marble; there was a bronze
gallery running about it, from which one might gaze into the green
depths of the water. There were luxurious dressing-rooms for men and
women, with hot and cold needle-baths, steam-rooms with rubbers in
attendance and weighing and lifting machines, electric machines for
producing "violet rays," and electric air-blasts for the drying of the
women's hair.

He watched several games, in which men and women took part; and later
on, when the tennis and