ffirmative, he continued, "Very well, then, ask him. The Major's
been a capitalist for forty years, and if you can get him to take it
up, why, you'll know you're safe."

Major Venable had taken quite a fancy to Montague--perhaps the old
gentleman liked to have somebody to gossip with, to whom all his
anecdotes were new. He had seconded Montague's name at the
"Millionaires'," where he lived, and had asked him there to make the
acquaintance of some of the other members. Before Montague parted with
his brother, he promised that he would talk the matter over with the
Major.

The Millionaires' was the show club of the city, the one which the
ineffably rich had set apart for themselves. It was up by the park, in
a magnificent white marble palace which had cost a million dollars.
Montague felt that he had never really known the Major until he saw him
here. The Major was excellent at all times and places, but in this club
he became an edition de luxe of himself. He made his headquarters here,
keeping his suite of rooms all the year round; and the atmosphere and
surroundings of the place seemed to be a part of him.

Montague thought that the Major's face grew redder every day, and the
purple veins in it purpler; or was it that the old gentleman's shirt
bosom gleamed more brightly in the glare of the lights? The Major met
him in the stately entrance hall, fifty feet square and all of Numidian
marble, with a ceiling of gold, and a great bronze stairway leading to
the gallery above. He apologized for his velvet slippers and for his
hobbling walk--he was getting his accursed gout again. But he limped
around and introduced his friend to the other millionaires--and then
told scandal about them behind their backs.

The Major was the very type of a blue-blooded old aristocrat; he was
all noblesse oblige to those within the magic circle of his
intimacy--but alas for those outside it! Montague had never heard
anyone bully servants as the Major did. "Here you!" he would cry, when
something went wrong at the table. "Don't you know any better than to
bring me a dish like that? Go and send me somebody who knows how to set
a table!" And, strange to say, the servants all acknowledged his
perfect right to bully them, and flew with terrified alacrity to do his
bidding. Montague noticed that the whole staff of the club leaped into
activity whenever the Major appeared; and when he was seated at the
table, he led off in this fashion--"Now I want