re ease over
a chop and a bottle of half-and-half with Uncle Jerry. Carmen, socially
triumphant, would have been much more in her element at a petit
souper of a not too fastidious four. Mrs. Schuyler Blunt was in the
unaccustomed position of having to maintain a not too familiar and not
too distant line of deportment. Edith and Jack felt the responsibility
of having put an incongruous company on thin conventional ice. It was
only the easy-going Miss Tavish and two or three others who carried
along their own animal spirits and love of amusement who enjoyed the
chance of a possible contretemps.

And yet the dinner was providentially arranged. If these people had not
met socially, this history would have been different from what it must
be. The lives of several of them were appreciably modified by this
meeting. It is too much to say that Father Damon's notion of the means
by which such men as Henderson succeed was changed, but personal contact
with the man may have modified his utterances about him, and he may have
turned his mind to the uses to which his wealth might be applied rather
than to the means by which he obtained it. Carmen's ingenuous interest
in his work may have encouraged the hope that at least a portion of this
fortune might be rescued to charitable uses. For Carmen, dining with
Mrs. Schuyler Blunt was a distinct gain, and indirectly opened many
other hitherto exclusive doors. That lady may not have changed her
opinion about Carmen, but she was good-natured and infected by the
incoming social tolerance; and as to Henderson, she declared that he was
an exceedingly well-bred man, and she did not believe half the stories
about him. Henderson himself at once appreciated the talents of Mavick,
gauged him perfectly, and saw what services he might be capable of
rendering at Washington. Mr. Mavick appreciated the advantage of a
connection with such a capitalist, and of having open to him another
luxurious house in New York. At the dinner-table Carmen and Mr. Mavick
had not exchanged a dozen remarks before these clever people felt that
they were congenial spirits. It was in the smoking-room that Henderson
and Mavick fell into an interesting conversation, which resulted in an
invitation for Mavick to drop in at Henderson's office in the morning.
The dinner had not been a brilliant one. Henderson found it not easy to
select topics equally interesting to Mrs. Delancy and Mrs. Blunt, and
finally fell into geographical i