whom they went for sympathy politely changed the subject when they
attempted to explain themselves. Mrs. John Newman King told the pastor
of Center Church, who had sought her advice as to his own duty, that she
hoped he wouldn't make a fool of himself. These were shocking words from
a woman who had known Abraham Lincoln, and who was a greater power in
Center Church than the ruling elders.

The Presbyterians were just then canvassing the town in the interest of
a projected hospital, and the "Evening Star" printed the subscriptions
from day to day. Amzi's name led all the rest with one thousand dollars;
and immediately below his modest "A. Montgomery," "Cash" was credited
with a like sum. It was whispered that Lois Montgomery Holton was the
anonymous contributor. Lois's three sisters were appalled by the
increasing rumors that their erring sister had come back with money. It
was a sinful thing, if true; they vacillated between demanding an
inquiry as to the source of the unknown contributor's cash or boldly
suing for peace with Lois and Amzi. And to add to their rage, they knew
that neither Lois nor Amzi cared a picayune whether peace was restored
or not. Lois's sisters were not the first among humankind to conclude
that there is a difference between Sin begging bread and Sin with cake
to throw away.

Lois's automobile dazzled Main Street at this juncture. The William
Holton car, splendid as it had been in its day, was a junk-pile compared
to it. The accompanying chauffeur received, it was said, a salary of
seventy-five dollars a month. Public interest fastened upon this person.
A crowd that gathered in front of the old bank to inspect the car on the
day that Lois and Phil brought it home from Indianapolis heard Mrs.
Holton address him in a strange tongue. By nightfall every one in
Montgomery knew that Lois had bought the most expensive car in town;
that her chauffeur was French, and that she gave him orders in his own
language just as though she had spoken it all her life. Main Street was
impressed; all Montgomery felt the thrill of these departures from its
usual, normal life.

Lawrence Hastings carried home details as to the "make," horse-power and
finish of the machine that caused his wife and two sisters-in-law
indescribable anguish. Still the French chauffeur was a consoling
feature; a vulnerable target for their arrows. No woman who valued her
reputation would go gallivanting over the country with a foreign
cha