id, 'I should have remained unaware of her
existence.'"

"'She is at the bottom of it all the same,' said Ethel. 'Everything you
have bought has been because she bought it.'"

"'That is not quite the right way to put it,' I replied. 'I was willing
to buy these securities because Mr. Beverly thought so highly of them
that he felt justified in--'"

"'There is no use,' interrupted Ethel, 'in our going round this circle
as if we were a pair of squirrels. I do not ask you to hate that woman
for my sake, but I cannot change my own feeling. Do you remember,
Richard, about the City of Philippi Sewer Bonds? You did not want to buy
them at first. You told me yourself that you thought new towns in Texas
were apt to buzz suddenly and then die because all the people hurried
away to some newer town and left the houses and stores standing empty.
But Mr. Beverly's mother got some, and all your hesitation fled. And
now I see that the Gulf, Galveston, and Little Rock is going to build a
branch that may make Philippi a perfectly evaporated town. If you sold
these bonds to-day, how much would you lose?'"

"I did not enjoy telling Ethel how much, but I had to. 'Only fifteen
thousand dollars,' I said."

"'Only!' said Ethel. 'Well, I hope his mother will lose a great deal
more than that.'"

"It is seldom that Ethel taps her foot, but she had begun to tap it now;
and this inclined me to avoid any attempt at a soothing reply, in the
hope that silence might prove still more soothing, and that thus we
might get away from old Mrs. Beverly."

"'She cannot possibly be less than sixty-five,' Ethel presently
announced. 'And she is far more likely to be seventy.'"

"I thought it best to agree to any age that Ethel chose to give the old
lady."

"'Do you suppose,' Ethel continued, 'that she does it by telephone?'"

"'My dearest,' I responded, 'he must do it all for her, of course, you
know.'"

"'I doubt that very much, Richard. And she strikes me as being the sort
of character for whom a mere telephone would not be enough excitement.
The nerves of those people require more and more stimulants to give them
any sensation at all. I believe that she sits in his private office and
watches the ticker.'"

"'Why not give her a ticker in her bedroom while you are about it,
Ethel?' I suggested."

"But Ethel could not smile. 'I think that is perfectly probable,' she
answered. And then, 'Oh, Richard, isn't it mean!' At this I took
her hand, and she