The Moneychangers | Page 3

practising law," he said. "I'm not making a fortune, but I'm managing to pay my bills. That is more than some other people do in this city."
"I should imagine it," said Lucy. "With all that row of shops on Fifth Avenue! Oh, I know I shall spend all that I own in the first week. And this hotel--why, it's perfectly frightful."
"Oliver has told you the prices, has he?" said Montague, with a laugh.
"He has taken my breath away," said Lucy. "How am I ever to manage such things?"
"You will have to settle that with him," said Montague. "He has taken charge, and he doesn't want me to interfere."
"But I want your advice," said Lucy. "You are a business man, and Ollie never was anything but a boy."
"Ollie has learned a good deal since he has been in New York," the other responded.
"I can tell you my side of the case very quickly," he went on after a moment's pause. "He brought me here, and persuaded me that this was how I ought to live if I wanted to get into Society. I tried it for a while, but I found that I did not like the things I had to do, and so I quit. You will find us in an apartment a couple of blocks farther from Fifth Avenue, and we only pay about one-tenth as much for it. And now, whether you follow me or Ollie depends upon whether you want to get into Society."
Lucy wrinkled her brows in thought. "I didn't come to New York to bury myself in a boarding-house," she said. "I do want to meet people."
"Well," said Montague, "Oliver knows a lot of them, and he will introduce you. Perhaps you will like them--I don't know. I am sure you won't have any difficulty in making them like you."
"Thank you, sir," said Lucy. "You are as ingenuous as ever!"
"I don't want to say anything to spoil your pleasure," said the other. "You will find out about matters for yourself. But I feel like telling you this--don't you be too ingenuous. You can't trust people quite so freely here as you did at home."
"Thank you," said Lucy. "Ollie has already been lecturing me. I had no idea it was such a serious matter to come to New York. I told him that widows were commonly supposed to know how to take care of themselves."
"I had a rather bad time of it myself, getting adjusted to things," said Montague, smiling. "So you must make allowances for my forebodings."
"I've told Lucy a little about it," put in Oliver, drily.
"He told me a most fascinating love story!" said Lucy, gazing at him with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "I shall certainly look out for the dazzling Mrs. Winnie."
"You may meet her to-morrow night," put in Oliver. "You are invited to dinner at Mrs. Billy Alden's."
"I have read about Mrs. Billy in the newspapers," said Lucy. "But I never expected to meet her. How in the world has Oliver managed to jump so into the midst of things?"
Oliver undertook to explain; and Montague sat by, smiling to himself over his brother's carefully expurgated account of his own social career. Oliver had evidently laid his plans to take charge of Lucy, and to escort her to a high seat upon the platform of Society.
"But tell me, all this will cost so much money!" Lucy protested. "And I don't want to have to marry one of these terrible millionaires."
She turned to Montague abruptly. "Have you got an office somewhere down town?" she asked. "And may I come to-morrow, and see you, and get you to be my business adviser? Old Mr. Holmes is dead, you know. He used to be father's lawyer, and he knew all about my affairs. He never thought it worth while to explain anything to me, so now I don't know very well what I have or what I can do."
"I will do all I can to help you," Montague answered.
"And you must be very severe with me," Lucy continued, "and not let me spend too much money, or make any blunders. That was the way Mr. Holmes used to do, and since he is dead, I have positively been afraid to trust myself about."
"If I am to play that part for you," said Montague, laughing, "I am afraid we'll very soon clash with my brother."
Montague had very little confidence in his ability to fill the part. As he watched Lucy, he had a sense of tragedy impending. He knew enough to feel sure that Lucy was not rich, according to New York standards of wealth; and he felt that the lure of the city was already upon her. She was dazzled by the vision of automobiles and shops and hotels and theatres, and all the