[ "It's a good scheme, Corkey." ]

[ But the bride still stands under the lamp on the portico, statuesque as Zenobia or Medea. ]

DAVID LOCKWIN

THE PEOPLE'S IDOL

BOOK I
DAVY

CHAPTER I
HARPWOOD AND LOCKWIN

Esther Wandrell, of Chicago, will be worth millions of dollars.

It is a thought that inspires the young men of all the city with momentous ambitions. Why does she wait so long? Whom does she favor?

To-night the carriages are trolling and rumbling to the great mansion of the Wandrells on Prairie Avenue. The women are positive in their exclamations of reunion, and this undoubted feminine joy exhilarates, and entertains the men. The lights are brilliant, the music is far away and clever, the flowers and decorations are novel.