"I shouldn't say she was a day under twenty-eight. No doubt she looked younger from where you were sitting." "Twenty-eight! Mary must have begun sooner than we heard. But--well, we never felt that we knew Mary--that was one of her charms. She kept us guessing, as you young fellows say, and she had the devil's own light in her eyes sometimes." His own orb lit up again. "Wonder if Mary is here? No doubt she's come over to get her property back--she never transferred her investments and of course it was alienated during the war. But not a soul has heard from her. I am sure of that. We were discussing her the other night at dinner and wondering if her fortune had been turned over. It was at Jane Oglethorpe's. Jane and a good many of the other women have seen her from time to time abroad--stayed at her castle in Hungary during the first years of her marriage; but they drifted apart as friends do. . . . She must be a wreck, poor thing. She ran a hospital during the war and was in Buda Pesth for some time after the revolution broke out. I hope she had the girl well hidden away." "Perhaps she sent the girl over to look after her affairs." "That's it. Beyond a doubt. And I'll find out. Trent is Mary's attorney and trustee. I'll make him open up." "And you'll call on her?" "Won't I? That is, I'll make Trent take me. I never want to look at poor Mary again, but I'd feel young---- Hello! I believe you're hit!" Mr. Dinwiddie, having solved his problems, was quite himself again and alert for one of the little dramas that savored his rather tasteless days. "I'd like that. I'll introduce you and give you my blessing. Wrong side of the blanket, though." "Don't care a hang." "That's right. Who cares about anything these days? And you can only be young once." He sighed. "And if she's like her mother--only halfway like her inside--she'll be worth it." "Is that a promise?" "We'll shake on it. I'll see Trent in the morning. Dine with me at the club at eight?" "Rather!" III