"The matter gives rise to all the more comment," she remarked, "because it is something no one would have expected. Her family is entirely respectable. She was a Miss Herrick, and though she has always been a gay little person, she has been quite cleverly prudent. Her acquaintances are only just beginning to realize the state of affairs, and there is a great division of opinion, of course. The Westoria lands have dazzled the husband, it is supposed, as he is a person given to projects, and he has dazzled her--and the admirer is to be made use of." The man--a quiet, elderly man, with an astutely humorous countenance--glanced after Bertha as she disappeared into the supper-room. She held her roses to her face, and her eyes smiled over them as Planefield bent to speak to her. "It is a tremendous affair,--that Westoria business," he said. "And it is evident she has dazzled the admirers. There is a good deal of life and color, and--audacity about her, isn't there?" "There is plenty of audacity," responded his companion with calmness. "I think that would be universally admitted, though it is occasionally referred to as wit and self-possession." "But she has been very much liked," timorously suggested the third member of the group, who was younger and much less imposing. "And--and I feel sure I have heard women admire her as often as men." "A great deal may be accomplished by cleverness and prudence of that particular kind," was the answer. "And, as I said, she has been both prudent and clever." "It isn't pleasant to think about," remarked the man. "She will lose her friends and--and all the rest of it, and may gain nothing in the end. But I suppose there is a good deal of that sort of thing going on here. We outsiders hear it said so, and are given to believing the statement." "It does not usually occur in the class to which this case belongs," was the response. "The female lobbyist is generally not so--not so"-- "Not so picturesque as she is painted," ended her companion with a laugh. "Well, I consider myself all the more fortunate in having seen this one who is picturesque, and has quite a charming natural color of her own." CHAPTER XXIV.