ng
astonishment and wrath. He was himself a married man with a family of
growing daughters. He made a mental note of Mr. Crane's conduct, which
ultimately terminated that promising young banker's career in finance
with the trust company.

"Where is the girl?" he asked at the end, sighing. "I must see her, I
suppose, though it seems too late to do anything now."

Pussy had sagely taken account of Mr. Solomon Smith's character and
concluded that the banker was the sort of middle-class American who
might insist upon the young couple's being married all over again in due
form if he suspected anything irregular, and so to save bother all
around she assured him that she herself had made inquiry at the
consulate and found that the marriage performed there was binding
enough,--"unless the trust company wished to intervene as guardian of
the minor and contest its validity on the ground of misrepresentation of
Adelle's age," which, of course, must involve considerable scandal.

"It would be very unpleasant, indeed," she said meaningly.

The banker, who hated all publicity for himself and for his institution,
hastened to say that he had no idea of taking such action; merely wished
to be sure that the girl was really married and that her children, if
any came to her, would be born in lawful wedlock. Miss Comstock hid a
smile and set his mind at rest on that point.

(One sequel of this affair, by the way, was the prompt conclusion of Mr.
Morris McBride's diplomatic career: he returned presently to a patient
fatherland to renew in Cook County, Illinois, his services to the
Republican Party.)

After a delectable luncheon at Miss Comstock's, Mr. Smith drove alone
from the Neuilly villa to Miss Baxter's studio, where he found the young
couple somewhat in neglige, recovering from one of the concierge's
indigestible repasts, funds now running too low to permit them to
indulge in restaurant life. The untidy studio and the disheveled couple
themselves made a very bad impression upon the trust company's officer,
who loathed from the depths of his orderly soul all slatternness and
especially "bohemian art." He examined the young husband through his
horn-bowed glasses so sternly that Archie slunk into the darkest corner
of the studio and remained there during the banker's visit, which he
left to Adelle to bear. Mr. Smith could not be harsh with the young
bride, no matter how foolish and wrong-headed he thought her.

"Mrs.--er--Davis,"