"We got off very well," Pearl laughed. "I saw a red-haired woman go away waving my roses, and Gladys Tumbleton was almost dragged into the mob at the end of a long strip of trimming that someone had secured as a prize, but, fortunately, Stuyve Mint had presence of mind enough to cut her free. It really was not half as bad as some other weddings, but I suppose the papers will call it a riot--they always exaggerate things so--yet, as a matter of fact, it was all over in a minute; the police got the crowd under control, and we were able to get away." "But the Duke--the poor, dear little Duke!" cried Mrs. Radigan. "He must have been terribly frightened." "On the contrary," said I, "he told me emphatically that it was jolly." "As he says about everything," said Mrs. Radigan. "But I noticed him particularly at the house. He looked terribly decomposed." Pearl Veal turned her head slowly and gazed at her sister, then glanced at me out of the corner of one of those glorious eyes of hers. Her mouth twitched and from those pouted lips a thin spire of smoke arose heavenward. The cigarette was poised in midair; she flicked the ashes from it with that fine little finger of hers and was about to take another puff when, by a sudden impulse, she tossed it away and, arising, came to my chair and seated herself on the arm in an attitude so half-caressing, so unusual for her, that Sally Radigan put down her cup and stared at her in amazement. For myself, I was astounded, but I yielded not an inch. And they say in our set that Pearl Veal is cold; that she is vapid, and has neither heart nor brains; that she is beautiful in her way, but knows it and poses; that she smiles on the men and then mulcts them at bridge; that I am marrying her for money, and why she is marrying me is a mystery! It is a mystery--this last--and to none more than to me. I find it hard to convince myself that it is not all a dream, and when she sat on the arm of my chair, when I felt her hand on my shoulder, and saw her stick out her little foot beside mine, inspecting them as though to see which was the larger--when all this happened at once, this perfect avalanche of good things, I gasped and stared up at her, as astounded as Sally Radigan. "The Duke was decomposed--greatly decomposed," said Mrs. Radigan, when she had regained her own composure. "He is always that way," said Pearl, "and yet you wanted me to marry him." I saw it then. We were facing the masterful Mrs. Radigan together, defying her. "I told you a hundred times," said she, waving the tea aside and settling herself back in her chair to tell it all again, "that I simply thought it would be best for you, because----" "Because I would be happier," said Pearl laughing.