On
one of the gayest of the coaches she saw four of the young men who
were among the most devoted of her cavaliers at dances: Alexander
Groome, Amos Lawton, Ogden Bascom, and "Tom" Abbott, Jr. Groome was
paying his addresses to Maria Ballinger, "a fine figure of a girl"
who had inherited little of her mother's beauty but all of her
virtue, and Madeleine wondered if he would reform and settle down.
Abbott was engaged to Marguerite McLane and looked as if he were
having his last glad fling. Ogden Bascom had proposed to Guadalupe
Hathaway every month for five years. It was safe to say that he would
toe the mark if he won her. But he did not appear to be nursing a
blighted heart at present.
Madeleine's depression left her. _That_, at least, Howard would
never do. She felt full of hope and buoyancy once more, not realizing
that it is easier to win back a lover than change the nature of man.
When Madeleine reached the Cliff House, that shabby innocent-looking
little building whose evil fame had run round the world, she stared
at it fascinated. Its restaurant overhung the sea. On this side the
blinds were down. It looked as if awaiting the undertaker. She
pictured Howard's horror when she told him of her close contact with
vice, and anticipated with a pleasurable thrill the scolding he would
give her.
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