id abruptly, "I really think you ought to go out to
Kentwood--to see about your property out there, I mean."

Mrs. Brewster-Smith looked up, rolling her large eyes in frank
amazement.

"Go out there? What for? It isn't the sort of a district a lady cares to
be seen in, I'm told; and, besides, George is looking after that for
me. _He_ understands such matters, and I frankly own _I_ don't. Business
makes me quite dizzy," she added with a flash of very white teeth.

Genevieve hesitated, then went to the point.

"But you must advise with your agent, Alys. The property is _yours_."

Alys raised sharply penciled brows. "I have utter confidence in George,"
she answered in a tone of finality that brought an adoring look from
Emelene, and her usual Boswellian echo: "Of _course_."

George squirmed uneasily. Such a vote of confidence implied accepted
responsibility, and he acknowledged to himself that he wanted to and
would dodge the unwelcome burden. He turned a benign Jovian expression
on Mrs. Brewster-Smith and condescended to explain.

"I have considered what is best for you, and I will myself see Allen and
request him to take your real-estate affairs in charge again. Neither
Sampson nor--er--Eliot is, I think, advisable for your best interests."

At the mention of the last name Genevieve's expressive face stretched to
speak; then she closed her lips with self-controlled determination. Mrs.
Brewster-Smith looked at her host in scandalized amazement.

"But I _told_ you," she almost whimpered, "that his wife is simply
impossible."

George smiled tolerantly. "But his wife isn't doing the business. It's
the business, not the social interests, we have to consider.

"Oh, but she is in the business," Alys explained. "I think it's because
she's jealous of him; she wants to be around the office and watch him."

Genevieve interposed. "Mrs. Allen owns a lot of land herself, and she
looks after it. It seems quite natural to me."

"But she _has_ a husband," Alys rebuked.

"Yes," agreed Genevieve, "but she probably married him for a husband,
not a business agent."

George felt the reins of the situation slipping from him, so he jerked
the curb of conversation.

"We are beside the issue," he said in his most legal manner. "The fact
is that Allen knows more about the Kentwood district and the factory
values than any one else, and I feel it my duty to advise Alys to leave
her affairs in his hands. I'll see him for you in the