"I think I'll have a high-ball," said Mr. Van Pycke. "Have something, Knapp? Billings? Oh, I remember: you don't drink immediately after dinner. Splendid idea, too. I think I'll follow your example, to-night at least. I have a rather important--er--engagement, later on." He twirled his mustache fondly. "You'll pursue the fair sex up to the very brink of the grave, Van Pycke," grumbled Knapp. "If you mean my own grave, yes," said the other, calmly. "If you mean that I'll pursue any fair sexton to the brink of _her_ grave, you're mistaken. I don't like old women. By the way, Knapp, do you happen to know Jim Scoville's widow?" "You mean _young_ Jim Scoville?" "Certainly. I don't discuss dowagers. Everybody knows the old one. I mean the pretty Mrs. Scoville." "More or less scandal about her, isn't there?" ventured Billings, pricking up his ears. "Not a grain of truth in it, not a grain," retorted Mr. Van Pycke in such a way that you had the feeling he wanted you to believe there _was_ scandal and that he was more or less connected with it. He studied the chandelier in a most evasive manner. "Ahem! Do you know her?" "Only by reputation," said Knapp, with gentle irony. "I've seen her," said Billings. "At the horse show. Or was it the automobile--" "I was in her box at one and in her tonneau at the other," said Mr. Van Pycke, taking the cigar Knapp extended. He glanced at his watch with sudden interest. "Yes, I see quite a bit of her. Charming girl--ahem! Of course" (punctuating his opinion with deliberate care) "she has been talked about, in a way. Lot of demmed old tabbies around town rippin' her up the back whenever she turns to look the other way. Old Mrs. Scoville is the queen tabby. She hates the young Mrs. Jim like poison. And, come to think of it, I don't blame the dowager. Charlotte is one of the most attract--" "Charlotte!" exclaimed Knapp. "Do you call her Charlotte?" "Certainly!" said Mr. Van Pycke, with a chilly uplifting of his eyebrows. "I thought her name was Laura," said Billings, who read all the gossip in the weekly periodicals. Mr. Van Pycke coughed. There seemed some likelihood of his bursting, the fit lasted so long. "Charlotte is a pet name we have for her," he explained, somewhat huskily, when it was over. "Demmed stupid of me!" he was saying to himself. "As I said before, I don't blame the old lady. Young Mrs. Jim has got five or six of the Scoville millions, and she's showing the family how to spend it. Her husband's been dead over two years. She's got a perfect right to take notice of other men and to have a bit of fun if she takes the notion. Hasn't she? I--I--it wouldn't surprise me at all if she were to take a new husband unto herself before long." He uttered a very conscious cackle and looked at his watch quite suddenly--or past it, rather, for he forgot to open the virtuously chased hunting case. Billings waited a moment. "I hear she is quite devoted to Chauncey De Foe,--or is it the other way?"