"Ugh," grunted Westguard. "Fancy a mother throwing her daughter at the head of a boy like Reggie Leeds!--as vicious and unclean a little whelp as ever--Oh, what's the use?--and _de mortius nihil_--et cetera, cock-a-doodle-do!" "That poor girl had two entire years of him," observed Lacy. "She doesn't look more than twenty now--and he's been in--been dead two years. Good Heavens! What a child she must have been when she married him!" Westguard nodded: "She had two years of him--and I suppose he seldom drew a perfectly sober breath.... He dragged her all over the world with him--she standing for his rotten behaviour, trying to play the game with the cards hopelessly stacked against her. Vincent Wier met them in Naples; Mallison ran across them in Egypt; so did Lydon in Vienna. They said it was heartbreaking to see her trying to keep up appearances--trying to smile under his nagging or his drunken insults in public places. Lydon told me that she behaved like a brick--stuck to Reggie, tried to shield him, excuse him, make something out of the miserable pup who was doing his best to drag her to his own level and deprave her. But I guess she was too young or too unhappy or something, because there's no depravity in the girl who was here a few minutes ago. I'll swear to that." After a moment Lacy said: "Well, he got his at last!" "What was comin' to him," added O'Hara, with satisfaction. Lacy added, curiously: "_How_ can a man misbehave when he has such a woman for a wife?" "I wonder," observed Quarren, "how many solid citizens read the account in the papers and remained scared longer than six weeks?" "Lord help the wives of men," growled Westguard.... "If any of you fellows are dressing for dinner you'd better be about it.... Wait a moment, Rix!"--as Quarren, the last to leave, was already passing the threshold. The young fellow turned, smiling: the others went on; Westguard stood silent for a moment, then: "You're about the only man I care for very much," he said bluntly. "If I am continually giving you the Bible and the Sword it's the best I have to give." Quarren replied laughingly. "Don't worry, old fellow. I take what you say all right. And I really mean to cut out a lot of fussing and begin to hustle.... Only, isn't it a wise thing to keep next to possible clients?" "The people you train with don't buy lots in Tappan-Zee Park." "But I may induce them to go into more fashionable enterprises----" "Not they! The eagle yells on every dollar they finger. If there's any bleeding to be done they'll do it, my son." "Lester Caldera has already asked me about acreage in Westchester." "Did he do more than ask?" "No." "Did you charge him for the consultation?" "Of course not." "Then he got your professional opinion for nothing." "But he, or others, may try to assemble several farms----"