"What WON'T she do to the Hall!" Mrs. Adams remarked; Mrs. Carew
sighed.

"It--it rather staggers one to think of trying to entertain a woman
worth eight millions, doesn't it?" said she.




CHAPTER V

From the moment of her arrival in Santa Paloma, when she stood on
the station platform with a brisk spring wind blowing her veil about
her face, and a small and chattering girl on each side of her, Mrs.
Burgoyne seemed inclined to meet the friendly overtures of her new
neighbors more than half-way. She remembered the baggage-agent's
name from her visit two weeks before--"thank Mr. Roberts for his
trouble, Ellen"--and met the aged driver of the one available
carriage with a ready "Good afternoon, Mr. Rivers!" Within a week
she had her pew in church, her box at the post-office, her
membership in the library, and a definite rumor was afloat to the
effect that she had invested several thousand dollars in the Mail,
and that Barry Valentine had bought the paper from old Rogers
outright; and had ordered new rotary presses, and was at last to
have a free hand as managing editor. The pretty young mistress of
Holly Hall, with her two children dancing beside her, and her ready
pleased flush and greeting for new friends, became a familiar figure
in Santa Paloma's streets. She was even seen once or twice across
the river, in the mill colony, having, for some mysterious reason,
immediately opened the bridge that led from her own grounds to that