"I've heard so, too," Mrs. Burleston replied. "It's interesting because he has survived. They all are killed in the course of a few years—about five is the outside limit for them, I'm told."

"I reckon he got his own well before the limit expired," Dorothy commented; "and he also got about everyone else's wells in course of time—including the gas wells. Then he became a financier and proceeded to get suckers."

"Whom did you hear say that?" laughed Gladys.

"Warwick Devereux, of course—whom else?"

"Why is it the men have such a contempt for Porshinger?" Mrs. Burleston reflected. "They all seem to despise him."

"A man's judgment of a man is rarely at fault," observed Miss Tazewell, from behind a cloud of cigarette smoke.

"Except when the man is a rival in business or love," Gladys remarked. "Then he is apt to be a bit biased."

"Which would include about everyone," was the answer.

"I've never heard of Porshinger being in love."