he
was usually with that Dane chap--you know--the explorer. I
wrote to her sisters making inquiries in behalf of myself and
Francis Hargrave; but they either didn't know or wouldn't
tell us where she was living. Neither would Dane. I didn't
suppose he knew at the time; but he did.

"Well, what do you think has happened? Athalie Greensleeve is
the most talked about girl in town! She has become the
fashion, Clive. You hear her discussed at dinners, at dances,
everywhere.

"Some bespectacled guy from Columbia University had an
article about her in one of the recent magazines. Every paper
has had something to say concerning her. They all disagree
except on one point,--that Athalie Greensleeve is the most
beautiful woman in New York. How does that hit you, Clive?

"Well, here's the key to the box of tricks. I'll hand it to
you now. Athalie has turned into a regular, genuine, out and
out clairvoyant, trade-marked patented. And society with a
big _S_ and science with a little _s_ are fighting to take
her up and make a plaything of her. And the girl is making
all kinds of money.

"Of course her beauty and pretty manners are doing most of it
for her, but here's another point: rumour has it that she's
perfectly sincere and honest in her business.

"How can she be, Clive? I ask you. Also I hand it to her
press-agent. He's got every simp in town on the run. He knows
his public.

"Well, the first time I met her she was dining with Dane
again at the Arabesque. She seemed really glad to see me.
There's a girl who remains unaffected and apparently
unspoiled by her success. And she certainly has delightful
manners. Dane glowered at me but Athalie made me sit down for
a few minutes. Gad! I was that flattered to be seen with such
a looker!

"She told me how it began--she couldn't secure a decent
position, and all her money was gone, when in came an old guy
who had patronised the medium whose rooms she was living in.

"That started it. The doddering old rube insisted that
Athalie take a crack at the crystal business; she took one,
and landed him. And when he went out he left a hundred bones
in his wake and a puddle of tears on the rug.

"She didn't tell it to me like this: she really fell for the
old gentleman. But I could size him up for a come-on. The
rural districts crawl with that species. Now