"His attitude is changed somehow," she thought to herself, and
then she remembered that "a man who wins a girl after an ardent
suit is often like one who runs after a street car and then sits
down to read his paper."

In truth after the first few days Monty seemed to have forgotten
his competitors, and was resting in the consciousness of his
assured position. Each day he sent her flowers and considered that
he had more than done his duty. He used no small part of his
income on the flowers, but in this case his mission was almost
forgotten in his love for Barbara.

Monty's attitude was not due to any wanting of his affection, but
to the very unromantic business in which he was engaged. It seemed
to him that, plan as he might, he could not devise fresh ways and
means to earn $16,000 a day. He was still comfortably ahead in the
race, but a famine in opportunities was not far remote. Ten big
dinner parties and a string of elaborate after-the-play suppers
maintained a fair but insufficient average, and he could see that
the time was ripe for radical measures. He could not go on forever
with his dinners. People were already beginning to refer to the
fact that he was warming his toes on the Social Register, and he
had no desire to become the laughing stock of the town. The few
slighting, sarcastic remarks about his business ability, chiefly
by women and therefore reflected from the men, hurt him. Miss
Drew's apparently harmless taunt and Mrs. Dan's open criticism
told plainly enough how the wind was blowing, but it was Peggy's
gentle questions that cut the deepest. There was such honest
concern in her voice that he could see how his profligacy was