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right away the pair were plunged into the midst of events: supper parties, bridge parties,

dancing, sports of one sort or another. So much gossip to hear and to impart, so many new

people to meet and play with! Everybody's cabin was loaded with souvenirs; everybody had

stories of places visited. But on the whole it had been rather a bore, you know; they would be

glad to get back home, where you could play golf and ride and motor, and get rid of the people

who bored you.

II

Living under the feudal system, Irma had found herself impressed by the idea of being

exclusive; but here she was back in the easygoing world which was much less trouble and

much more fun. All sorts of people wanted to know her, and how was she to find out who they

were or what they wanted? It might be an expert thief, trying to find out what jewels she wore

and where she kept them; it might be a blackmailer on the watch for something he could put to

use; there was a good chance of its being a cardsharp, for swarms of them preyed upon the

passengers of ocean liners. Irma and a New York acquaintance played against a couple of ladies

with manners and costumes beyond criticism; quite probably the pair had some means of

signaling other than the bids which were a part of the game and which everybody studied and

argued about. They proposed a dollar a point for stakes, and Irma didn't mind; she didn't mind

especially when she found that her side was a couple of thousand dollars in the hole at the

end of an afternoon. Her partner broke down and wept, saying she didn't have the money, so

Irma paid for both, and didn't like it when Lanny insisted that all three women were probably

in cahoots.

Also there was the question of liquor. The young people were drinking all the time, and how

they managed to carry it was a problem. Lanny said: "Why not choose some friends who know

something to talk about?" But those were older persons, and Irma could only listen. Presently

along would come some of her own set and carry her off to a gaily decorated bar; or they would

order drinks while they were playing shuffleboard on deck. Lanny could no longer say: "You

have the health of our baby to think of." He was put in the unpleasant position of the sober

man at a feast; he was a wet blanket, a sorehead, a grouch. Irma didn't say these things, but

others said them behind her back, and looked them; you had either to play the game or

antagonize people. Lanny decided that he would be glad when his wife was under the sheltering

wing of Fanny Barnes, who had the right to scold her daughter and exercised it.

Among the conveniences on board this movable city was a broker's office where you could

get quotations and gamble in your favorite stocks; also a daily newspaper which reported what

was happening in Wall Street and the rest of the world. Shortly before the vessel reached New

York it was learned that the troubles in Vienna had come to a climax; there was a failure of the

Creditanstalt, biggest bank in the city. Next day the panic was spreading to Germany. Lanny

heard people say: "All right. It's time they had some troubles." But others understood that if

Germany couldn't pay reparations, Britain and France would soon be unable to pay their debts

to the United States. These financial difficulties traveled like waves of sound; they met some

obstruction and came rolling back. The world had become a vast sounding-board, filled with

clashing echoes hurled this way and that. Impossible to guess what was coming next!

III

The Statue of Liberty stood, erect and dignified, holding her torch immovable; in bright

sunlight she appeared quite sober. Lanny wondered: was she "on the wagon," or did she, like

so many of his acquaintances in cafe society, never get drunk until night? It was still the time

of Prohibition, and you couldn't buy anything on the ship after she had passed the three-mile

limit; but everybody knew that as soon as you stepped ashore you could get whatever you

wanted.

Fanny Barnes, accompanied by her brother Horace, was waiting on the pier for the first sight

of the most precious of all babies. When gangplanks were lowered and the family procession

came down, she took the soft warm bundle in her arms, and Lanny saw the first tears he had

ever seen in what he had thought were hard, worldly eyes. She refused to put the bundle down,

but carried it off to the waiting car and sat there, breaking every rule which Miss Severne had

laid down for the hygienic and psychological protection of infants. Lanny saw the

Englishwoman watching with disapproval; he feared that a first-class row was pending, for the

head nurse had explained many times that she was a professional person and considered that her

services were superfluous if her advice was disregarded.

They left Feathers to attend to the customs formalities and to bring Irma's maid and the

nursemaid and the bags in another car. The family drove away in state, with Miss Severne in

front with the chauffeur, so that she wouldn't be so aware of a grandmother coddling and