The
paragraph concluded with the prediction that the strangers would
find themselves the centre of a merry social war.
Oliver was the first to show them this paper. But lest by any chance
they should miss it, half a dozen unknown friends were good enough
to mail them copies, carefully marked.--And then came Reggie Mann,
who as free-lance and gossip-gatherer sat on the fence and watched
the fun; Reggie wore a thin veil of sympathy over his naked glee,
and brought them the latest reports from all portions of the
battle-ground. Thus they were able to know exactly what everybody
was saying about them--who was amused and who was outraged, and who
proposed to drop them and who to take them up.
Montague listened for a while, but then he got tired of it, and went
for a walk to escape it--but only to run into another trap. It was
dark, and he was strolling down the Avenue, when out of a
brilliantly lighted jewellery shop came Mrs. Billy Alden to her
carriage. And she hailed him with an exclamation.
"You man," she cried, "what have you been doing?"
He tried to laugh it off and escape, but she took him by the arm,
commanding, "Get in here and tell me about it.
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