y as the cook an' the
chambermaid. But they were keeping up with Lizzie. Poor things!
They weren't so much to blame. They thought their fathers were
rich, an' their fathers enjoyed an' clung to that reputation. They
hid their poverty an' flaunted the flag of opulence.

"It costs money, big money an' more, to produce a generation of
invalids. The fathers o' Pointview had paid for it with sweat an'
toil an' broken health an' borrowed money an' the usual tax added
to the price o' their goods or their labor. Then one night the
cashier o' the First National Bank blew out his brains. We found
that he had stolen eighteen thousand dollars in the effort to keep
up. That was a lesson to the Lizzie-chasers! Why, sir, we found
that each of his older girls had diamond rings an' could sing in
three languages, an' a boy was in college. Poor man! he didn't
steal for his own pleasure. Everything went at auction--house,
grounds, rings, automobile. Another man was caught sellin' under
weight with fixed scales, an' went to prison. Henry Brown failed,
an' we found that he had borrowed five hundred dollars from John
Bass, an' at the same time John Bass had borrowed six hundred from
Tom Rogers, an' Rogers had borrowed seven hundred an' fifty from
Sam Henshaw, an' Henshaw had borrowed the same amount from Percival
Smith, an' Smith had got it from me. The chain broke, the note
structure fell like a house o' cards, an' I was the only
loser--think o' that. There were five capitalists an' only one man
with real money.

II

IN WHICH LIZZIE RETURNS TO HER HOME, HAVING MET A QUEEN AND
ACQUIRED AN ACCENT AND A FIANCE

"Sam Henshaw's girl had graduated an' gone abroad with her mother.
One Sunday 'bout a year later, Sam flew up to the door o' my house
in his automobile. He lit on the sidewalk an' struggled up the
steps with two hundred an' forty-seven pounds o' meat on him. He
walked like a man carryin' a barrel o' pork. He acted as if he was
glad to see me an' the big arm-chair on the piaz'.

"'What's the news?' I asked.

"'Lizzie an' her mother got back this mornin',' he gasped.
'They've been six months in Europe. Lizzie is in love with it.
She's hobnobbed with kings an' queens. She talks art beautiful. I
wish you'd come over an' hear her hold a conversation. It's
wonderful. She's goin' to be a great addition to this community.
She's got me faded an' on the run. I ran down to the store for a
few minutes this mor