s black and disgusting. They've squandered hundreds on
this bridge party; all the prizes were bought abroad, I hear, and
Kathryn Van Rensselaer told me there were to be fifty tables," continued
Mrs. Norman.

"It will be one of those horribly vulgar affairs with five times as much
of everything as there is any need of, I suppose," rejoined Ethel
scornfully.

"Do you know, I hear that ballroom is the most magnificent in New
York--done entirely by Garten-Veen."

"Well, we shall at least hear about it," sighed Mrs. Norman, with a
slight tinge of regret in her tone, "we'll telephone--you have one of
course!"

"Have a telephone? Well, I should say! One might as well be out of the
world as try to live without one. Everyone has one now," answered Mrs.
Danielson with a shrug.

"Then do call me up and tell me everything you hear," said Mrs. Norman
eagerly, "and I will call you. Thank Heaven, there are two of us with
conscience enough to block the Christys' social pathway!"

During the week preceding the much talked of function, one heard it on
every hand. Some said the prizes alone mounted up into the hundreds;
others announced that the decorations were to be the floral marvel of
the season; two reporters had been permitted to view Mrs. Christy's gown
and wrote exhaustive descriptions on this monument to the Parisian art.

Mrs. Norman and Ethel Danielson had frequent long gossips over the
telephone, relating each fresh item and exulting that they, at least,
had not lost their heads.

"Elise Thayer says she shall not go if we don't," called Mrs. Norman
with great satisfaction; "I have talked to her very seriously about it
and told her it was her duty to the rest of us to stay away, and she
says she will. No, I haven't sent regrets yet--I shall wait until the
last moment and be as nasty as I can," and Mrs. Norman gave a rippling
laugh.

At last the eventful day of the great bridge party came and among the
early arriving guests was Mrs. Norman. She glanced around her, noting
critically every detail of the luxurious house with its exquisite
appointments. Of course Ethel Danielson and Elise Thayer would hear that
she had come and be furious, but she was well prepared with explanations
when next she should meet them. She had planned it all very carefully.

She was sweeping down the staircase to greet her hostess when she
suddenly stopped aghast! From opposite directions--entirely unconscious
of the other's approach--came E