heartily over the recollection. "Of
course that tickled the old man to death," she continued. "The Wallings
never could make out how I managed to get round him as I did; but it
was simply because I was honest with him. They'd come snivelling round,
pretending they were anxious about his health; while I wanted his
money, and I told him so."

The valiant lady turned to the decanter. "Have some Scotch?" she asked,
and poured some for herself, and then went on with her story. "When I
first came to New York," she said, "the rich people's houses were all
alike--all dreary brownstone fronts, sandwiched in on one or two city
lots. I vowed that I would have a house with some room all around
it--and that was the beginning of those palaces that all New York walks
by and stares at. You can hardly believe it now--those houses were a
scandal! But the sensation tickled the old man. I remember one day we
walked up the Avenue to see how they were coming on; and he pointed
with his big stick to the second floor, and asked, 'What's that?' I
answered, 'It's a safe I'm building into the house.' (That was a new
thing, too, in those days.)--'I'm going to keep my money in that,' I
said. 'Bah!' he growled, 'when you're done with this house, you won't
have any money left.'--'I'm planning to make you fill it for me,' I
answered; and do you know, he chuckled all the way home over it!"

Mrs. Billy sat laughing softly to herself. "We had great old battles in
those days," she said. "Among other things, I had to put the Wallings
into Society. They were sneaking round on the outside when I
came--licking people's boots and expecting to be kicked. I said to
myself, I'll put an end to that--we'll have a show-down! So I gave a
ball that made the whole country sit up and gasp--it wouldn't be
noticed particularly nowadays, but then people had never dreamed of
anything so gorgeous. And I made out a list of all the people I wanted
to know in New York, and I said to myself: 'If you come, you're a
friend, and if you don't come, you're an enemy.' And they all came, let
me tell you! And there was never any question about the Wallings being
in Society after that."

Mrs. Billy halted; and Montague remarked, with a smile, that doubtless
she was sorry now that she had done it.

"Oh, no," she answered, with a shrug of her shoulders. "I find that all
I have to do is to be patient--I hate people, and think I'd like to
poison them, but if I only wait long enough, some