n for an informal call on Mrs. O'Meara, who is warm-hearted
and sensible, and who listens to the babblings of Mrs. Hopkins, with a
patience and benignity worthy of a Spartan mother.

"No! Well, I am dying to tell it, then. Sybil Lamotte is coming
back--actually coming back--and that man with her; and--won't it be
queer? We shall have him in society, of course, for I am told, from the
_best_ of sources, that the Lamottes will accept him as Sybil's choice,
and make the best of him."

"But _we_ need not accept him, my dear," comments the Spartan mother,
whose lawyer husband is rich and independent, and does not count fees.
"As for Sybil, she was always a favorite with us; we shall be glad to
have her back."

"Yes, that's very well for you and Mr. O'Meara, who are very exclusive,
and go out little, but we poor society people will have to submit to the
powers that be. Constance Wardour, the Lamottes, the Vandycks, have led
us as they would, and queer as it may seem, the Lamottes are backed up
in this business of forcing John Burrill upon us, by Constance, on one
hand, and the Vandycks, mother and son, on the other."

"And Mrs. Aliston?"

"Mrs. Aliston, of course. When did she ever oppose Constance? It's
making a great furore, I can tell you; but no one is going to step
forward and openly oppose Constance and the Vandycks. I for one am
Sybil's staunch friend, and--well, as Constance says, 'let us take it
for granted that this bear of Sybil's has some good qualities, or he
would never have won her,' and then, too, it's so romantic, about Evan
you know, and how Sybil, in some way, saved him from something, by
marrying this man. I never could get the right end, or any end of that
story, nor have I found any one who knows the plain facts. Well, Mrs.
O'Meara, I must go; I have seven more calls to make, and I really have
talked too long."

"_She'll_ take him up fast enough," mused Mrs. O'Meara, in solitude.
"That's the way of society; they can't oppose wealth and prestige, even
when prestige and wealth command them to fellowship with a grizzly bear;
rather they will whitewash their bear, and call him a thing of beauty,
and laugh in their silken sleeves to see him dance."

It was quite true, that bombshell of Mrs. Hopkins'--Sybil Lamotte was
coming back. Mr. Lamotte went somewhere, nobody could name just the
place, and returned, having done, nobody knew precisely what; and as the
result of that journey, so said W----, Sybil