n she meant "Come to
our house." It had a Scriptural sound and was thought shocking until
Carthage grew used to it.

It was due to her that several elderly men were forced into their
first evening dress. They had thought to escape through life without
that ordeal. Old Clute would have preferred to be fitted for a pine
box, and would have felt about as comfortable in it. He tried to
compromise with the tailor on a garment that could serve as a Prince
Albert by day and a "swaller tail" by night, but Mr. Kweskin could
not manage it even though his Christian name was Moses.

So Mr. Clute blamed Mrs. Budlong for yet another expense. Husbands
all over town were blaming Mrs. Budlong for running their families
into fool extravagances. Mothers were blaming her for dragging them
round by the nose and leaving them no rest. But everybody in town
resentfully obeyed Mrs. Budlong, though Mrs. Roscoe Detwiller wanted
to organize a HomeKeepers Union, and strike. For the women never
dared trust themselves about the house in a wrapper, since Mrs.
Budlong might happen in as like as not--rather liker than not.

And then, just as the town was fermenting for revolt, Mrs. Budlong
came into a lot of money.

IV

ONLY A MILLIONAIRE

That is, Mr. Budlong came into a lot of money. Which meant that Mr.
Budlong would be permitted to take care of it while his wife got rid of
it. One of those relatives, very common in fiction, and not altogether
unknown in real life, finally let go of her money at the behest of her
impatient undertaker. The Budlongs had the pleasure of seeing the
glorious news of their good fortune in big headlines in the Carthage
papers.

It was the only display Mr. Budlong ever received in that paper without
paying for it--excepting the time when he ran for Mayor on the
opposition ticket and was referred to in letters an inch high as
"Candidate Nipped-in-the-Budlong."

But now the cornucopia of plenty had burst wide open on the front
porch. It seemed as if they would have to wade through gold dollars to
get to their front gate--when the money was collected. When the money
was collected.

And now it was Mrs. Budlong's telephone that rang and rang. It was
she that was called up and called up. It was she that sagged along the
wall and shifted from foot to foot, from elbow to elbow and ear to ear.

After living in Carthage all her life she was suddenly, as it were,
welcomed to the city as a distinguish