The Golden House

or his friend. No combination could be more desirable for a young man who proposed to himself a career of getting money by adroit management and spending it in pure and simple self-indulgence. Th

r her was unquestioned; his trust in her was absolute. And yet with either Carmen or Miss Tavish he fell into confidential revelations of himself which instinctively he did not make to Edith. The explanation of this is on the surface, and it is the key to half the unhappiness in domestic life. He felt that Edith was not in sympathy with the associations and the life he was leading. The pitiful and hopeless part of it is that if she had been in sympathy with them, Jack would have gone on in his frivolous career at an accelerated pace. It was not absence of love, it was not unfaithfulness, that made Jack enjoy the h

ch fears. And it must be said, since she was a woman, that she had the consciousness of power which goes along with the possession of loveliness and keen wit. Those who knew her best knew that under her serenity

where the poor children get their idea of forests, and the rich renew their faint recollections of innocence and country life; when the hawkers go about t

's invitation?" asked Jack one

all decline to

's for c

s to Miss Tavish. I don'

in a nice hole

you don't take me--the clubs, brokers' of

ou object to my goin

the world;" and her animated face sparkled with a smile, wh

money for the Baxter Street Guild, yes, and do more good, than you and the

in this way. You ought to be encouraged. Why don't you join Miss Tavish in this charity? I have no doubt that if it was advertised that Miss T

triding about the room, with more irritation than he h

re, Jack. Now, old fellow, look me straight in the eyes, and tell me if you would like to have me dance the serpen

with amusement at the incongruous picture, see

erent," and he stooped an

ace of mockery in it; "and since you do, you'd better go along and do your c

nder the gaze of this sensation-loving society. But this was only for a moment. When he congratulated Miss Tavish his admiration was entirely sincere; and the girl, excited with her physical triumph, seemed to him as one emancipated out of acquired prudishness into the Greek enjoyment of life. Miss Tavish, who would not for the world have violated one of the social conventions of her set, longed, as many women do, for the sort of freedom and the sort of applause which belongs to women who succeed upon the stage. Not that she would have forfeited her position by dancing at a theatre for money; but; within limits,

whatever he touched. Without any change in his idle habits, and with no more attention to business than formerly, money came to him so freely that he not only had a complacent notion that he was a favorite of fortune, but the idea of his own importance in the financial world increased enormously, much t

ion can squander money in a luxurious city. If he did not haunt the second-hand book-shops or the stalls of dealers in engravings, or bring home as much bric-a-brac as he once had done, it was because his mind was otherwise engaged; his tailor's bills were longer, and there were more expensive lunch

ying, "Very well then, dear, if you won't back me, I shall have to rely upon my bankers." At any rate, neither Carmen nor Miss Tavish took him to task. They complimented him on his taste, and Carmen made him feel that she appreciated his independence and his courage in living the life that suited him. She knew, indeed, how much

his sort of estimate of a man is only tested by his misfortunes, when the day comes that he must seek financial backing. In these days he was generally in an expansive mood, and his fre

e rigid economy that he practiced; no one had ever seen his small dingy chamber in a cheap lodging-house. The name of Fairfax was as good as a letter of introduction in the metropolis, and the Major had lived on it for years, on that and a ca

with the evening paper in his hand, in the attitude of one expecting the usual five o'

ncy, what's

uching a bell on the little table as he sat down. Jack's face was flushed, but

ve bought Be

y mind," Jack replied, with the air of a man declinin

hing as a cheap yacht, any more

ld," Jack insisted. "A man's

th necessary friends, he had to accept invitations for cruises on yachts, and pretend he liked it. Though he had the gout, he vowed he would rather walk to Newport than go round Point Judith in one of

st do something, start a newspaper--the drama, society, and letters, that sort

ravity, "I'm not buying

don't care who you buy it for if you don't buy it for your

mean, Major Fairfax!" cri

ke a milksop. But I've known you since you were so high, and I knew your father; he used to stay weeks on my plantation when we were both younger. And your mother--that was a woman!--did me a kindness on

aimed Jack, touched a litt

t me: At your age I should have been angry too at a hint even from an old friend. Bu

ou got again

in with a combination of gang-saws, or to make friends with the Department of the Interior. Look at the men who have gone in w

nderson's got to do w

aking a humorous turn--"at the mercy of Henderson's schemes. If I did, I wouldn't try to run a yacht at the same time. I should be afraid

Major," retorted Jack, with a laug

Say Henderson and Carmen." And the Major leaned back and tapped

angry with old Fairfax--and then said: "Major, if I were you, I wouldn'

or gray hair than if it were dyed. I cannot waste any more time on you. I've got an early dinner. Devilish up

about the Major. He stood up in church every Sunday and

n he didn't care, but evidently the old fellow represented a lot of gossip. He wished people would mind their own business.

had a worr

ur of old Fairfax, who hasn't any

kiss; but a sharp pang went through her heart, for she guessed what had happen

going presently to a little cottage by the sea, and Mrs. Schuyler Blunt had

was saying; "hardly smart enough to ask anybody to,

ce. I hear Lenox is mo

e people. The Hendersons and the Van Dams and that sort are in a race to see who shall build houses with

nnot spoil t

other me, but some of my old neighbors are just ruining themselves trying

ouble is we haven't any m

en. I thought years ago when we went to Lenox that it was a good thing the country was getting to be the fashion; but now it's fashionable,

she went to

anywhere. Just long enough in one place to upset everything with their e

simply, and then, with curiosity in her eyes, asked

f up to say what must be said, "I thought per

hould or why I should

them," continued M

. Blunt?" cried Edith,

t to have said anything. But I thought i

el

s with one or the o

if it means anything wrong in Jack. So am I with those women; so are you. It's a sham

you?" And the kind-hearted gossip put her arm round Edith, and kept saying that she perfectly understood

. Blunt answered; "but it's the best we

cions might not enter her heart. She could not endure that the world should talk thus of him. That was all. And when she had thought it all over and grown calm, she went to her desk and wrote a note