Siowitha--and had consented to resign from it to do so, he
had every reason to believe that Neergard meant to either mulct them
heavily or buy them out. In either case, having been useful to Neergard,
his profits from the transaction would have been considerable.

But, even while he was absorbed in figuring them up--and he needed the
money, as usual--Neergard coolly informed him of his election to the
club, and Ruthven, thunder-struck, began to perceive the depth of the
underground mole tunnels which Neergard had dug to undermine and capture
the stronghold which had now surrendered to him.

Rage made him ill for a week; but there was nothing to do about it. He
had been treacherous to his club and to his own caste, and Neergard knew
it--and knew perfectly well that Ruthven dared not protest--dared not
even whimper.

Then Neergard began to use Ruthven when he needed him; and he began to
permit himself to win at cards in Ruthven's house--a thing he had not
dared to do before. He also permitted himself more ease and freedom in
that house--a sort of intimacy _sans facon_--even a certain jocularity.
He also gave himself the privilege of inviting the Ruthvens on board the
_Niobrara_; and Ruthven went, furious at being forced to stamp with his
open approval an episode which made Neergard a social probability.

How it happened that Rosamund divined something of the situation is not
quite clear; but she always had a delicate nose for anything not
intended for her, and the thing amused her immensely, particularly
because what viciousness had been so long suppressed in Neergard was now
tentatively making itself apparent in his leering ease among women he so
recently feared.

This, also, was gall and wormwood to Ruthven, so long the official
lap-dog of the very small set he kennelled with; and the women of that
set were perverse enough to find Neergard amusing, and his fertility in
contriving new extravagances for them interested these people, whose
only interest had always been centred in themselves.

Meanwhile, Neergard had almost finished with Gerald--he had only one
further use for him; and as his social success became more pronounced
with the people he had crowded in among, he became bolder and more
insolent, no longer at pains to mole-tunnel toward the object desired,
no longer overcareful about his mask. And one day he asked the boy very
plainly why he had never invited him to meet his sister. And he got an
answer that