This conversation was typical of many others in homes of equal culture, for Bertha's position as well as her face and manner piqued curiosity. After all, the town was a small place--just large enough to give gossip room to play in--and the sheen of Mrs. Haney's wealth made her conspicuous from afar, while her youth and boyish beauty had been the subject of admiring club talk from the very first. Haney was only an old and wounded animal, whose mate was free to choose anew. "It makes me ache to see the girl go wrong," said Mrs. Frank Congdon, wife of a resident portrait-painter, also in delicate health (she was speaking to Mrs. Crego). "Think of that great house--Frank says she runs it admirably--filled with tinkers and tailors and candlestick-makers, not to mention touts and gamblers--when she might be entertaining--well, us, for example!" She laughed at the unbending face of her friend; then went on: "Dr. Cronk says the mother is a sweet old lady and of good New England family--a constitutional Methodist, he calls her. I wish she kept better company." "But what can you expect of a girl brought up in a pigsty. Her mother was mistress of a little miners' hotel in Junction City, Allen says, and the girl boasts of it." Mrs. Congdon smiled. "I'm dying to talk with her. She's far and away the most interesting of our newly rich, and I like her face. Frank has called, you know?" "Has he?" "On business, of course. She has decided to have him paint her husband's picture. She's taken her first step upward, you see." "I should think she'd be content to have her saloon-keeper husband's face fade out of her memory." "Frank is enthusiastic. I'm not a bit sure that he didn't suggest the portrait. He is shameless when he takes a fancy to a face. He's wild to paint them both and call it 'The Lion Tamer and the Lion.' He considers Haney a great character. It seems he saw him in Cripple Creek once, and was vastly taken by his pose. His being old and sad now--his face is one of the saddest I ever saw--makes it all the more interesting to Frank. So I'm going to call--in fact, we're going to lunch there soon." "Oh, well, yes. You artists can do anything, and it's all right. You must come over immediately afterwards and tell me all about it, won't you?" At this Mrs. Congdon laughed, but, being of generous mind, consented.