Riatt, not sorry for a moment's respite, entered into a detailed account
of Lee Linburne. He was the third generation of a great fortune,
augmenting rather than decreasing with years. He was but little over
thirty and had taken the whole field of amusement and sports as his own.
He played polo, had a racing stable and a racing yacht, had gone in
recently for flying (hence Riatt's connection with him), occasionally
financed a theatrical show, and now and then attended a directors'
meeting of some of his grandfather's companies. The result was that his
name was as widely known through the country as Abraham Lincoln's.
Dorothy knew as soon as she heard his name, that he had married a girl
from Pittsburg, and had gone through her native city in a private car on
his honeymoon three years before, and had stopped, she rather thought,
and had lunch with the Governor of the State.

On Hickson, Max touched more briefly.

When at last he did cross the room, Christine received him with the
utmost cordiality.

"What luck to run across you, though of course this is the only place in
New York where one can get food that doesn't actually poison one. Last
week--do you remember, Lee? We dined somewhere or other with the
Petermans and nothing from the beginning of dinner to the end was fit to
eat. But, bless them, they did not know. Have you met Mrs. Linburne? Oh,
she knows all about _us_. In fact every one does, for I can't resist
wearing this." She moved her left hand on which his diamond shone like a
swollen star. "How did you find my father?"

"Most amiable," answered Riatt rather poisonously, and regretted the
poison when he saw the Linburnes exchange an amused glance. Of course