.

Back among the shadows twinkled a priceless mirror; shutting off
Calvin's serving table was a painted screen worth its weight in gold. It
was a far cry from the catsup bottles and squalid service of George's
early days. The Bannisters of Huntersfield wore their poverty like a
plume!

The Judge carried Dalton off presently to the Bird Boom. George went
with reluctance. This was not what he had come for. Becky, slim and
small, with her hair peaked up to a topknot, Becky in pale blue, Becky
as fair as her string of imitation pearls, Becky in the golden haze of
the softly illumined room, Becky, Becky Bannister--the name chimed in
his ears.

Dalton had had some difficulty in getting away from Hamilton Hill.

"It's my last night," Madge had said; "shall we go out in the garden and
watch the moon rise?"

"Sorry," George had told her, "but I've promised Flora to take a fourth
hand at bridge."

"And after that?" asked Madge softly.

"What do you mean?"

"Who is the new--little girl?"

It was useless to pretend. "She's a beauty, rather, isn't she?"

"Oh, Georgie-Porgie, I wish you wouldn't."

"Wouldn't what?"

"Kiss the girls--and make them--cry----"

"You've never cried----"

She laughed at that. "If I haven't it is because I know that afterwards
you always--run away."

He admitted it. "One can't marry them all."

"I wonder if you are ever serious," she told him, her chin in her hand.

"I am always serious. That's what makes it--interesting----"

"But the poor little--hearts?"

"Some one has to teach, them," said George, "that it's a pretty
game----"

"Will it be always a game--to you--Georgie?"

"Who knows?" he said. "So far I've held trumps----"

"Your conceit is colossal, but somehow you seem to get away with it."
She smiled and stood up. "I'm going to bed early. I have been losing my
beauty sleep lately, Georgie."

He chose to be gallant. "You are not losing your beauty, if that's what
you mean."

Her dinner gown was of the same shade of mauve that she had worn in the
afternoon. But it was of a material so sheer that the gold of her skin
seemed to shine through.

"Good-night, Golden Girl," said Dalton, and kissed the tips of her
fingers as she stood on the stairs. Then he went off to join the others.

Madge did not go to bed. She went out alone and watched the moon rise.
Oscar Waterman's house was on a hill which gave a view of the whole
valley. Gradually under the moon the houses of Ch