"'My dear Ethel,' I replied, 'she will not. And only see how you are
making it all up out of your head. You have never seen her, but you speak
of her as a grey-haired grandmother.'"

"'She must be, Richard. You have told me that Mr. Beverly is a married
man and about forty-five. No doubt he has older sisters and brothers. But
if he has not, his mother can hardly be less than sixty-five, and he has
probably been married for several years. He might easily have a daughter
coming out, next winter, and a son at Harvard or Yale; and if their
grandmother's hair is not grey, that is quite as unnatural as her
speculating in monopolised eggs in this way at her age. She must be a
very unladylike person.'"

"Ethel, I saw, was excited. Therefore I made no more point of her
theories concerning the appearance and family circle of old Mrs. Beverly.
But in justice to myself I felt obliged to remind her, first, that I was
investing, not speculating, and second, that it was Mr. Beverly's advice
I was following, and not that of his mother. 'Had he not spoken of her,'
I said, 'I should have remained unaware of her existence.'"

"'She is at the bottom of it all the same,' said Ethel. 'Everything you
have bought has been because she bought it.'"

"'That is not quite the right way to put it,' I replied. 'I was willing
to buy these securities because Mr. Beverly thought so highly of them
that he felt justified in--'"

"'There is no use,' interrupted Ethel, 'in our going round this circle as
if we were a pair of squirrels. I do not ask you to hate that woman for