He wanted as
little scandal in the hotel as possible, and he believed her to be
helpless without money. The barkeeper was an old friend of his, and
when he instructed him to honor no orders from his suite he knew,
that the man's promise could be relied on. The chambermaid was
dismissed.
As soon as she was alone Madeleine wrote to her father and asked him
for a thousand dollars. It was the first time she had asked him for
money since her marriage; and he sent it to her with a long kindly
letter, warning her against extravagance. She had given no reason for
her request, but he inferred that she had been running up bills and
was afraid to tell her husband. Was she ill, that she wrote so
seldom? He understood that she had quite recovered. But she must
remember that he and her mother were old people.
Several days after her return she had sold four new gowns, recently
arrived from New York and unworn, to Sibyl Forbes.
XXXV
Ralph Holt ran down the steps of a famous night restaurant in north
Montgomery Street on the edge of Chinatown. It was a disreputable
place but it had a certain air of brilliancy, although below the
sidewalk, and was favored by men that worked late on newspapers, not
only for its excellent cuisine but because there was likely to be
some garish bit of drama to refresh the jaded mind.
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