fluity of wealth fairly stunned and overwhelmed
her. Stafford, apparently more infatuated every day, took the keenest
delight in pleasing her. Everything that he thought would add to her
happiness was done. He showered her with costly presents, giving her
wonderful diamond tiaras, superb pearl necklaces and other gems until
her jewels were soon the talk of New York. She had _carte
blanche_ at Fifth Avenue dressmakers and milliners; she had her
French maid, her hairdresser, her automobile and her box at the opera.
He forced open for her the doors of society and, once inside the
exclusive circle, it was not long before Virginia made friends on her
own account. People had expected to see a bold, coarse adventuress;
instead, they were charmed by a modest, refined young woman who,
intellectually at least, was their superior. Everybody received her
with open arms. The men classed her as pretty and _chic_; the
women declared she dressed divinely and gave exquisite dinners. Before
long, society arrived at the conclusion that Robert Stafford had not
made such a mess of his matrimonial venture, after all.

The months went by so gayly and so quickly that it was the greatest
surprise to Virginia when one day she realized that she would soon
celebrate the second anniversary of her wedding. She was so taken up
with one fashionable function after another that she had no time to
think. Sometimes in the midst of her social activities, she stopped to
ask herself if she was really happy, if this nerve-racking existence
of idleness and pleasure--with its bridge parties, its dinners, its
opera and theatre-going--was the kind of life she had dreamed of in
her girlhood days. Sometimes she felt a longing, a yearning for a more
useful existence, something nobler, higher.

Then, all at once, there came a change. It seemed to her that Robert's
manner toward her was not the same. For no apparent cause, he
gradually grew more cold and distant. At first she thought she herself
might be to blame and she carefully watched her own actions and
attitude to see if she was neglectful in any way of wifely duties and
devotion. But she had nothing with which to reproach herself. She
managed his household and entertained his friends. When they were
alone she played and sang for him. But, for some reason that she could
not explain, she seemed gradually to lose the power of holding him at
home. Under the pretext of urgent business, he stayed away more and
more