s. Mrs. Jeffries' friends paid exorbitant
prices for some of the stuff and Underwood pocketed the money,
forgetting to account to the owners for the sums they brought. The
dealers demanded restitution or a settlement and Underwood, dreading
exposure, had to hustle around to raise enough money to make up the
deficiency in order to avoid prosecution. In this way he lived from day
to day borrowing from Peter to settle with Paul, and on one or two
occasions he had not been ashamed to borrow from Mrs. Jeffries herself.

Alicia lent the money more because she feared ridicule than from any
real desire to oblige Underwood. She had long since become disgusted
with him. The man's real character was now plainly revealed to her. He
was an adventurer, little better than a common crook. She congratulated
herself on her narrow escape. Suppose she had married him--the horror of
it! Yet the next instant she was filled with consternation. She had
allowed him to become so intimate that it was difficult to break off
with him all at once. She realized that with a man of that character the
inevitable must come. There would be a disgraceful scandal. She would be
mixed up in it, her husband's eyes would be opened to her folly, it
might ruin her entire life. She must end it now--once for all. She had
already given him to understand that their intimacy must cease. Now he
must stop his visits to her house and desist from trapping her friends
into his many schemes. She had written him that morning forbidding him
to come to the house this evening. She was done with him forever.

These thoughts were responsible for the frown on the beautiful Mrs.
Jeffries' bejeweled brow that particular Saturday evening. Alicia gave a
sigh and was drawing on her long kid gloves before the glass, when
suddenly a maid entered and tendered her mistress a note. Alicia knew
the handwriting only too well. She tore the letter open and read:

DEAR MRS. JEFFRIES: I received your letter telling me that my
presence at your house to-night would be distasteful to you. As you
can imagine, it was a great shock. Don't you understand the harm
this will do me? Everybody will notice my absence. They will jump
to the conclusion that there has been a rupture, and my credit will
suffer immediately with your friends. I cannot afford to let this
happen now. My affairs are in such condition that it will be fatal
to me. I need your support and friends