young bucks talks companionship to you put up your guard or come and
tell me. I'll settle his hash."

"I don't want the companionship of any other man, but I'd like yours."

"You don't know how lucky you are. You have all of me you could
stand. Three or four long evenings--well, we'd yawn in each other's
faces and go to bed. A bull but true enough."

"Then I think I'll have the books unpacked, not only those I
brought, but the new case papa sent to me. I have lost the resource
of Society for several months, and I do not care to have men here
after you have gone. That would mean gossip."

"You are above gossip and I prefer the men to the books. You'll ruin
your pretty eyes, and you had the makings of a fine bluestocking when
I rescued you. A successful woman--with her husband and with Society--
has only sparkling shallows in her pretty little head. Now, I must
run. I really shouldn't have come all the way up here for lunch."

Madeleine wandered aimlessly to the window and looked down at the
scurrying throngs on Montgomery Street. There were few women. The men
bent against the wind, clutching at their hats, or chasing them along
the uneven wooden sidewalks, tripping perhaps on a loose board. There
were tiny whirlwinds of dust in the unpaved streets. The bustling
little city that Madeleine had thought so picturesque in its novelty
suddenly lost its glamour. It looked as if parts of it had been flung
together in a night between solid blocks imported from the older
communities; so furious was the desire to achieve immediate wealth
there were only three or four buildings of architectural beauty in