CHAPTER III.

The handsome town house of Howard Jeffries, the well-known banker, on
Riverside Drive, was one of the most striking among the many imposing
millionaire homes that line the city's splendid water front. Houses
there were in the immediate proximity which were more showy and had cost
more money, but none as completely satisfying from the art lover's
standpoint. It was the home of a man who studied and loved the beautiful
for its own sake and not because he wanted to astonish people with what
miracles his money could work. Occupying a large plot on slightly
elevated ground, the house commanded a fine view of the broad Hudson.
Directly opposite, across the river, busy with steam and sailing craft,
smiled the green slopes of New Jersey; in the purplish north frowned the
jagged cliffs of the precipitous Palisades.

The elder Jeffries, aristocratic descendant of an old Knickerbocker
family, was proud of his home and had spent large sums of money in
beautifying it. Built in colonial style of pure white marble with long
French windows and lofty columns supporting a flat, rounded roof,
surrounded by broad lawns, wide-spreading shade trees and splashing
fountains, it was a conspicuous landmark for miles. The interior was
full of architectural beauty. The stately entrance hall, hung with
ancestral portraits, was of noble proportions and a superb staircase,
decorated with statuary led off to tastefully decorated reception rooms
above. To-night the house was brilliantly illuminated and there was
considerable activity at the front entrance, where a footman in smart
livery stood opening the doors of the carriages as they drove up in
quick succession.

Mrs. Jeffries' musicales were always largely attended because she knew
the secret of making them interesting. Her husband's wealth and her fine
house enabled her to entertain on a liberal scale, and she was a tactful
and diplomatic hostess as well. She not only cultivated the right kind
of people who were congenial to each other, but she always managed to
have some guest of special distinction whom every one was eager to meet.
Her own wide acquaintance among the prominent operatic artists and her
husband's influential position in the world of finance made this policy
an easy way of furthering her social ambitions. She would always invite
some one whom she could present as the lion of the evening. One week it
would be a tenor from the opera house, another time a fam