afternoon. So here I am! I know everybody in Washington. Would you like
me to point out some of the celebrities to you? See that stunning woman
just coming in at the door? She has the reputation of being the most
popular woman in Washington. But nobody knows just where she comes from,
or who she is, or how she gets her money. But I must not talk Washington
gossip. You'll meet her soon yourself."

"How do you do, Miss Moore?" broke in a charming contralto voice.
"You are the very person I wish to see. I can give you some news for
your paper. It is not very important, but I thought you might like
to have it."

"You are awfully good, Mrs. Wilson," Marjorie Moore replied gratefully.
"I have just been talking to Miss Thurston about you. May I introduce
her? She has just arrived in Washington, and I told her, only half a
second ago, that you were the nicest woman in this town."

Mrs. Wilson laughed quietly. "I know Miss Thurston's sister and her
friend, Miss Carter. Mr. Hamlin let me help chaperon them at a reception
yesterday afternoon. But Miss Moore has been flattering me dreadfully. I
am a very unimportant person, though I happen to have the good fortune to
be a friend of Mr. Hamlin's and Harriet's. I am keeping house in
Washington at present. Some day you must come to see me."

Bab thanked her new acquaintance. She thought she had never seen a more
unusual looking woman. It was impossible to guess her age. Mrs. Wilson's
hair was snow-white, but her face was as young as a girl's and her eyes
were fascinatingly dark under her narrow penciled brows. She was gowned
in a pale blue broadcloth dress, and wore on her head a large black hat
trimmed with a magnificent black plume.