The Metropolis

They came to the old family mansion and rang the bell, and the solemn butler ushered them past the grand staircase and into the front reception room to wait. Perhaps five minutes later he came in and rolled back the doors, and they stood up, and beheld a withered old lady, nearly eighty years of age, bedecked with diamonds and seated upon a sort of throne. They approached, and Oliver introduced them, and the old lady held out a lifeless hand; and then they sat down,

Mrs. Devon asked them a few questions as to how much of New York they had seen, and how they liked it, and whom they had met; but most of the time she simply looked them over, and left the making of conversation to Oliver. As for Montague, he sat, feeling perplexed and uncomfortable, and wondering, deep down in him, whether it could really be America in which this was happening.

"You see," Oliver explained to them, when they were seated in their carriage again, "her health is failing, and it's really quite difficult for her to receive."

"I'm glad I don't have to call on her more than once," was Alice's comment. "When do we know the verdict.'*"

"When you get a card marked 'Mrs. Devon at home,'" said Oliver. And he went on to tell them about the war which had shaken Society

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long ago, when the mighty dame had assorted her right to be "Mrs. Devon," and the only "Mrs. Devon." He told them also about her wonderful dinner-set of china, which had cost thirty thousand dollars, and was as fragile as a humming-bird's wing. Each piece bore her crest, and she had a china expert to attend to washing and packing it — no common hand was ever allowed to touch it. He told them, also, how Mrs. Devon's housekeeper had wrestled for so long, trying to teach the maids to arrange the furniture in the great reception rooms precisely as the mistress ordered; until finally a complete set of photographs had been taken, so that the maids might do their work by chart.

Alice went back to the hotel, for Mrs. Robbie Walling was to call and take her home to lunch; and Montague and his brother strolled round to Reggie Mann's apartments, to report upon their visit.

Reggie received them in a pair of pink silk pajamas, decorated with ribbons and bows, and with silk-embroidered slippers, set with pearls — a present from a feminine adorer. Montague noticed, to his dismay, that the little man wore a gold bracelet upon one arm ! He explained that he had led a cotillion the night before — or rather this morning; he had got home at five o'clock. He looked quite white and tired, and there were the remains of a breakfast of brandy and soda on the table.

"Did you see the old girl ?" he asked. "And how does she hold up.?"

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"She's game," said Oliver.

"I had the devil's own time getting you in," said the other. "It's getting harder every day."

"You'll excuse me," Reggie added, "if I get ready. I have an engagement." And he turned to his dressing-table, which was covered with an array of cosmetics and perfumes, and proceeded, in a matter-of-fact way, to paint his face. Meanwhile his valet was flitting silently here and there, getting ready his afternoon costume; and Montague, in spite of himself, followed the man with his eyes. A haberdasher's shop might have been kept going for quite a while upon the contents of Reggie's dressers. His clothing was kept in a room adjoining the dressing room; Montague, who was near the door, could see the rosewood wardrobes, each devoted to a separate article of clothing — shirts, for instance, laid upon sliding racks, tier upon tier of them, of every material and colour. There was a closet fitted with shelves and equipped like a little shoe store — high shoes and low shoes, black ones, brown ones, and white ones, and each fitted over a last to keep its shape perfect. These shoes were all made to order according to' Reggie's designs, and three or four times a year there was a cleaning out, and those which had gone out of fashion became the prey of his " man." There was a safe in one closet, in which Reggie's jewellery was kept.

The dressing room was furnished like a lady's boudoir, the furniture upholstered with exquisite embroidered silk, and the bed hung with curtains of the same material. There was a huge

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bunch of roses on the centre-table, and the odour of roses hung heavy in the room.

The valet stood at attention with a rack of neckties, from which Reggie critically selected one to match his shirt. ' Are you going to take Alice with you down to the Havens's?" he was asking; and he added, "You'll meet Vivie Patton down there — she's had another row at home."

"You don't say so!" exclaimed Oliver.

"Yes," said the other. "Frank waited up all night for her, and he wept and tore his hair and vowed he would kill the Count. Vivie told him to go to hell."

"Good God!" said Oliver. "Who told you that.?"