van Rensselaer Landis had just returned from a successful
hunting-trip in the far West. He did not see the humour of this, at
least not until they had told him of another paragraph which had
appeared some time before: stating that Mrs. Landis had gone to
acquire residence in South Dakota, taking with her thirty-five
trunks and a poodle; and that "Leanie" Hopkins, the handsome young
stock-broker, had taken a six months' vow of poverty, chastity, and
obedience.

And yet Mrs. Landis was "in" Society! And moreover, she spent nearly
as much upon her clothes as Miss Yvette, and the clothes were quite
as conspicuous; and if the papers did not print pages about them, it
was not because Mrs. Landis was not perfectly willing. She was
painted and made up quite as frankly as any chorus-girl on the
stage. She laughed a great deal, and in a high key, and she and her
friends told stories which made Montague wish to move out of the
way.

Mrs. Landis had for some reason taken a fancy to Alice, and invited
her home to lunch with her twice during the show. And after they had
got home in the evening, the girl sat upon the bed in her
fur-trimmed wrapper, and told Montague and his mother and Mammy Lucy
all about her visit.

"I don't believe that woman has a thing to do or to think about in
the world except to wear clothes!" she said. "Why, she has
adjustable mirrors on ball-bearings, so that she can see every part
of her skirts! And she gets all her gowns from Paris, four times a
year--she says there are four seasons now, instead of two! I thought
that my new clothes amounted to something, but my goodness, when I