"You would find me a very substantial one," returned Aileen.
"Would that I might find," he laughed, gaily; and Aileen, gathering
the hidden significance, showed her teeth teasingly. Mrs. Simms,
engrossed by Cowperwood, could not hear as she would have liked.

After the march Aileen, surrounded by a half-dozen of gay, rudely
thoughtless young bloods, escorted them all to see her portrait.
The conservative commented on the flow of wine, the intensely nude
Gerome at one end of the gallery, and the sparkling portrait of
Aileen at the other, the enthusiasm of some of the young men for
her company. Mrs. Rambaud, pleasant and kindly, remarked to her
husband that Aileen was "very eager for life," she thought. Mrs.
Addison, astonished at the material flare of the Cowperwoods, quite
transcending in glitter if not in size and solidity anything she
and Addison had ever achieved, remarked to her husband that "he
must be making money very fast."

"The man's a born financier, Ella," Addison explained, sententiously.
"He's a manipulator, and he's sure to make money. Whether they
can get into society I don't know. He could if he were alone,
that's sure. She's beautiful, but he needs another kind of woman,
I'm afraid. She's almost too good-looking."

"That's what I think, too. I like her, but I'm afraid she's not
going to play her cards right. It's too bad, too."

Just then Aileen came by, a smiling youth on either side, her own
face glowing with a warmth of joy engendered by much flattery.
The ball-room, which was composed of the music and drawing rooms
thrown into one, was now the objective. It glittered before her