without gossip.

But none centered about Madeleine Talbot. Her little coquetries were
impartial and her devotion to her husband was patent to the most
infatuated eye. Life was made very pleasant for her. Howard, during
that first winter, accompanied her to all the dinners and parties,
and she gave several entertainments in her large suite at the
Occidental Hotel. Sally Ballinger was a lively companion for the
mornings and was as devoted a friend as youth could demand. Mrs.
Abbott petted her, and Mrs. Ballinger forgot that she had been born
in Boston.

When it was discovered that she had a sweet lyric soprano,
charmingly cultivated, her popularity winged another flight; San
Francisco from its earliest days was musical, and she made a
brilliant success as La Belle Helene in the amateur light opera
company organized by Mrs. McLane. It was rarely that she spent an
evening alone, and the cases of books she had brought from Boston
remained in the cellars of the Hotel.




V


Society went to the country to escape the screaming winds and dust
clouds of summer. A few had built country houses, the rest found
abundant amusement at the hotels of The Geysers, Warm Springs and
Congress Springs, taking the waters dutifully.