to a land where a man, if he did not occupy himself lucratively, was
unfit for the society of enterprising citizens.

Few had come in time for the gold diggings, but all, unless they had
disappeared into the hot insatiable maw of the wicked little city,
had succeeded in one field or another; and these, in their dandified
clothes, made a fine appearance at fashionable gatherings. If they
took up less room than the women they certainly were more decorative.

Dr. Talbot and his wife had not arrived. To all eager questions Mrs.
McLane merely replied that "they" would "be here." She had the
dramatic instinct of the true leader and had commanded the doctor not
to bring his bride before four o'clock. The reception began at three.
They should have an entrance. But Mrs. Abbott, a lady of three chins
and an eagle eye, who had clung for twenty-five years to black satin
and bugles, was too persistent to be denied. She extracted the
information that the Bostonian had sent her own furniture by a
previous steamer and that her drawing room was graceful, French, and
exquisite.

At ten minutes after the hour the buzz and chatter stopped abruptly
and every face was turned, every neck craned toward the door. The
colored butler had announced with a grand flourish:

"Dr. and Mrs. Talbot."

The doctor looked as rubicund, as jovial, as cynical as ever. But
few cast him more than a passing glance. Then they gave an audible
gasp, induced by an ingenuous compound of amazement, disappointment,
and admiration. They had been prepared to forgive, to endure, to make