Knowing Freddie so
well, it would not have surprised her in the least to find that he had
become engaged to Katherine. His heart was a very flexible organ.
[Illustration: Katherine]
"Oh," said Katherine, "I believe he did say that you had mentioned us."
Of herself she was asking: "I wonder if she is in love with him!"
And thus it transpired that Freddie Ulstervelt--addlepated,
good-looking, inconstant Freddie, just out of college--was transformed
into a bone of contention, whether he would or no.
He was of the kind who love or make love to every new girl they meet,
seriously enough at the time, but easily passed over if need be. Rebuffs
may have puzzled him, but they left no jagged scar. He belonged to that
class which upsets the tranquillity of inexperienced maidens by
whispering intensely, "God, it's grand!" And he means it at the moment.
Katherine Rodney was in love with him. He belonged to a fashionable New
York family of wealth, and he had been a young lion at Pasadena during
the winter just past. He owned automobiles and a yacht and--an extensive
wardrobe. These notable assets had much to do with the conquest of Mrs.
Rodney: she looked with favour upon the transitory Mr. Ulstervelt, and
believed in her heart that he had something to do with the location of
the shining sun. But of this affair more anon, as the novelists say.
Brock was presented to the Rodneys just before the party went in to
dinner.
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