nothing. Mrs. Simms had
condescended a mild "how'd do" to the latter.

It was in vain that the Addisons, Sledds, Kingslands, Hoecksemas, and
others made their appearance; Aileen was not reassured. However, after
dinner the younger set, influenced by McKibben, came to dance, and
Aileen was at her best in spite of her doubts. She was gay, bold,
attractive. Kent McKibben, a past master in the mazes and mysteries of
the grand march, had the pleasure of leading her in that airy, fairy
procession, followed by Cowperwood, who gave his arm to Mrs. Simms.
Aileen, in white satin with a touch of silver here and there and
necklet, bracelet, ear-rings, and hair-ornament of diamonds, glittered
in almost an exotic way. She was positively radiant. McKibben, almost
smitten, was most attentive.

"This is such a pleasure," he whispered, intimately. "You are very
beautiful--a dream!"

"You would find me a very substantial one," returned Aileen. "Would
that I might find," he laughed, gaily; and Aileen, gathering the hidden
significance, showed her teeth teasingly. Mrs. Simms, engrossed by
Cowperwood, could not hear as she would have liked.

After the march Aileen, surrounded by a half-dozen of gay, rudely
thoughtless young bloods, escorted them all to see her portrait. The
conservative commented on the flow of wine, the intensely nude Gerome
at one end of the gallery, and the sparkling portrait of Aileen at the
other, the enthusiasm of some of the young men for her company. Mrs.
Rambaud, pleasant and kindly, remarked to her husband that Aileen was
"very eager for life," she thought. Mrs. Addison, astonished at the
material flare of the Cowperwoods, quite transcending in glitter if not
in size and solidity anything she and Addison had ever achieved,
remarked to her husband that "he must be making money very fast."

"The man's a born financier, Ella," Addison explained, sententiously.
"He's a manipulator, and he's sure to make money. Whether they can get
into society I don't know. He could if he were alone, that's sure.
She's beautiful, but he needs another kind of woman, I'm afraid. She's
almost too good-looking."

"That's what I think, too. I like her, but I'm afraid she's not going
to play her cards right. It's too bad, too."

Just then Aileen came by, a smiling youth on either side, her own face
glowing with a warmth of joy engendered by much flattery. The
ball-room, which was composed of the music and drawing rooms th