Thereafter Mrs.Ruggles treated the captain as one whose rank was equal to her own, and, consequently, higher than anyone's else in the boarding-house.

She made it a point to publicly ask his advice concerning "securities" and "investments," and favored him with many reminiscences of her distinguished father, the Senator.

Miss Sherborne, as usual, followed her lead.

Captain Elisha, when Pearson joked him on the altered behavior of the two ladies, merely grinned.
"You may thank me for that, Captain," said the young man.

"When I told Mrs.Ruggles who and what you were she almost broke down and sobbed.
The fact that she had risked offending one so closely connected with the real thing on Fifth Avenue and Wall Street was too dreadful.