"There really is hope for you," returned the older man, with his quizzing
smile. "Good night. Come, Czar." He passed into the hotel--the dog at his
heels.

It was two days later--Thursday--that Conrad Lagrange made his memorable
visit to the Taines--memorable, in my story, because, at that time, Mrs.
Taine gave such unmistakable evidence of her interest in Aaron King and
his future.




Chapter IV

At the House on Fairlands Heights



As my friend the social scientist would say; it is a phenomenon peculiar
to urban life, that the social strata are more or less clearly defined
geographically.

That is,--in the English of everyday,--people of different classes live in
different parts of the city. As certain streets and blocks are given to
the wholesale establishments, others to retail stores, and still others to
the manufacturing plants; so there are the tenement districts, the slums,
and the streets where may be found the homes of wealth and fashion.

In Fairlands, the social rating is largely marked by altitude. The city,