SPARROWS

THE STORY OF AN UNPROTECTED GIRL

CHAPTER ONE

THE DEVITTS


Everyone at Melkbridge knew the Devitts: they lived in the new,
pretentious-looking house, standing on the right, a few minutes
after one left the town by the Bathminster road. It was a
blustering, stare-one-in-the-face kind of house, which defied one to
question the financial stability of its occupants. The Devitts were
like their home in being new, ostentatious folk; their prosperity
did not extend further back than the father of Montague, the present
head of the family.

Montague Devitt did little beyond attending board meetings of the
varied industries which his father's energy had called into being.
He was a bluff, well-set-up man, who had married twice; both of his
wives had brought him money. Each time Montague chose a mate, he had
made some effort to follow the leanings of his heart; but money not
lying in the same direction as love, an overmastering instinct of
his blood had prevailed against his sentimental inclinations; in
each case it had insisted on his marrying, in one instance an
interest in iron works, in another, a third share of a Portland
cement business.

His first wife had borne him two sons and a daughter; his second was