had
millions, but great taste to have undertaken, let alone accomplished, as
much as was already visible here. Pointing to a bleak waste of sand
between the house and the sea--and it looked like a huge red and yellow
bird perched upon a waste of sand--he observed, "When you come again in
the spring, that will contain a garden of 40,000 roses. The wind is
nearly always off the sea here. I want the perfume to blow over the
verandahs. I can rotate the roses so that a big percentage of them will
always be in bloom."

We visited the stables, the garage, an artesian well newly driven, a
drive that was to skirt the sea, a sunken garden some distance from the
house and away from the sea.

Next spring I came once more--several times, in fact. The rose garden
was then in bloom, the drives finished, the pictures hung. Although this
was not a world in which society as yet deigned to move, it was entirely
conceivable that at a later period it might, and betimes it was crowded
with people smart enough and more agreeable in the main than the hardy,
strident members of the so-called really inner circles. There were
artists, writers, playwrights, singers, actresses, and some nondescript
figures of the ultra-social world--young men principally who seemed to
come here in connection with beautiful young women, models and other
girls whose beauty was their only recommendation to consideration.

The scene was not without brilliance. A butler and numerous flunkeys
fluttered to and fro. Guests were received at the door by a footman. A
housekeeper and various severe-looking maids governed in the matter of
cleaning. One could play golf, tennis, bridge, motor, fish, swim, drink
in a free and even disconcerting manner or read quietly in one angle or
another of the grounds. There were affairs, much flirting and giggling,
suspicious wanderings to and fro at night--no questions asked as to who
came or whether one was married, so long as a reasonable amount of
decorum was maintained. It was the same on other occasions, only the
house and grounds were full to overflowing with guests and passing
friends, whose machines barked in the drives. I saw as many gay and
fascinating costumes and heard as much clever and at times informative
talk here as anywhere I have been.

During this fall and winter I was engaged in work which kept me very
much to myself. During the period I read much of X----, banks he was
combining, new ventures he was undertaking. Ye