suppose its inhabitants could carry
neither care nor evil humor across its threshold, but there was disgust
and weariness in Millicent's eyes as she glanced from the little
pony-carriage waiting at the gate to her husband leaning against a
pillar.

Leslie was evidently in a complacent frame of mind, and he did not
notice his wife's expression. There was a smile upon his puffy face
which suggested pride of possession. It was justifiable, for Mrs.
Leslie was still a distinctly handsome woman, and she knew how to dress
herself.

"You will meet very few women who excel you, and the team is unique,"
he remarked exultantly. "Drive around by some of the big stores and
let folks see you before you turn into the park. Since that affair of
Thurston's I am almost beginning to grow proud of you."

"Isn't it somewhat late in the day?" was the answer, and Millicent's
tone was chilly. "If you had wished to pay me a compliment that was
not intended ironically, it would have been wiser to omit all reference
to the subject you mentioned. It is done now--and heaven knows why I
told you--but I can't thank you for reminding me of a deed I am ashamed
of. Further, I understood the ponies were for my pleasure, and I have
stooped far enough in your interest without displaying myself as an
advertisement of a prosperity which does not exist."

Leslie laughed unpleasantly, noticing the flash in the speaker's eyes
before he rejoined: "Perhaps it is tardy praise I give you, but
regarding your last remark, to pretend you have achieved prosperity is,
so far as I can see, the one way to attain it, and I have a promising
scheme in view. It is not a particularly pleasant part to play, and
there was a time when it appeared very improbable that either of us
would be forced, as you say, to stoop to it. Neither was it my
ambition which brought about the necessity. As to the ponies--I had
fancied they might do their part, too, but they are a reward for
services rendered in finding me a clue to the missing-man mystery.
Nobody need know that they're not quite our own. Now you have got
them, isn't it slightly unfair to blame me because you were willing to
earn them?"

"I suppose so," admitted Millicent. "Still, I can't help remarking
that you take the man's usual part of blaming the woman for whatever
happens. To-day I will not drive through the city, but straight into
the park."

Leslie said nothing further, but followed his wife to the ga