1902. With frontispiece. The novel's action is set at the close of President Cleveland's second administration. The story begins: Oh, you're going away, on business, to the South! That will mend matters. Gossip, likely enough, will forget all about us before you return. There's always something happening. With a little exaggerated sigh of relief, she threw herself back among the gilt-embroidered cushions. When do you start? Her visitor, a stern and handsome man of about thirty-five, seemed to resent a situation which gave his departure such suspicious interest. He turned his face until it showed a sharp profile, and fixed his gaze upon a fat, hybrid Buddha of new brass, which squatted in an opposite corner.