matter at which end, her loyalty rose triumphant above her social code, and
she was not afraid to express it publicly.

Toward Alexina she felt less a sister than a second mother, and gave her
freely of her abundant maternal reservoir. That "little sister" had at
times sulked under this proud determination to assist in the bringing-up
of the last of the Ballinger-Groomes, did not discourage her. She might be
soft in her affections but she never swerved from her duty as she saw it.
Alexina was a darling wayward child, who only needed a firm hand to guide
her along that proud secluded old avenue of the city's elect, until she had
ambled safely to established respectability and power.

She had been alarmed at one time at certain symptoms of cleverness she
noticed in the child, and at certain enthusiastic remarks in the letters of
Ballinger Groome, with whose family Alexina had spent her vacations during
her two years in New York at school. But there had been no evidence of
anything but a young girl's natural love of pleasure since her debut in
society, and she was quite unaware of Alexina's wicked divagations. She
had spent the winter in Santa Barbara, for the benefit of her oldest, boy,
whose lungs were delicate, and, like her mother, never deigned to read the
society columns of the newspapers. Her reason, however, was her own. In
spite of her blood, her indisputable position, her style, she cut but a
small figure in those columns. She was not rich enough to vie with those
who entertained constantly, and was merely set down as one of many guests.
The fact induced a slight bitterness.



IV