"I haven't the pleasure——"
"You're Mrs. Marsh, I believe," smiled the lawyer.
"Yes," stammered the other, "I'm Mrs. Marsh, but I haven't the pleasure——"
"Quite so," replied the young woman coolly. Quickly drawing a long, ominous-looking folded paper from her dress, she said archly and audibly:
"This is for you, Mrs. Marsh. I regret to serve a summons in this way, but your milkman has waited a long time, and all's fair in love and law."
The people standing about tittered, and there was an embarrassing silence. Mrs. Marsh, at first, wished the floor would open and swallow her up. Then her eyes flashed with fury. Waving the unwelcome visitor back out of reach of her guests' ears, she almost shouted:
"Get out of here, hussy! How dare you steal into anyone's house in this contemptible way? Out with you before I forget myself!"
The astonished and crestfallen butler opened wide the door, not daring to meet his irate mistress' eye, and the woman lawyer hastened back to her client to report success.
Under the circumstances it was not surprising that this particular Thursday did not count among Mrs. Marsh's successful "At Homes." There was a chill in the air which everyone remarked, and one by one the visitors departed, each impatient to retail the good story elsewhere.
It was some time before Mrs. Marsh got over the shock, and from this time on her troubles seemed to multiply. They came thick and fast. Even Tod worried her. Tired of his fast companions, menaced with a curtailment of the financial supplies which had made his idle life possible, and hopeless under present home conditions of ever making a decent career for himself, her son rebelled and suddenly startled his mother by announcing his determination to go to work. He had been offered the agency of an automobile firm, the engagement including also a preliminary trip to Europe to negotiate for the representation of some foreign cars. There was no need to hesitate over such an offer as that. He was off to gay Paree! A week later he sailed, leaving his mother and stepfather to weather the financial storm as best they could.