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"Not any more. It seems that the councilneeds extra revenue, and Steinberg has offeredit.""But they can't seU The KnoU!""They can," Mary said, "and it looks likethey will."* * *She thought there was something fishy whenAlec was so subdued for fully three days. Shetried to find out the cause. A loss on the stockexchange? She even looked at his accounts, butthat wasn't it. She'd never considered herselfa nagger as were most of the girls, but shedid have to keep at him."I've been over-ruled, I'm afraid," he finallyconfessed."What do you mean, over-ruled?""The club, I'm afraid.""What, you mean the tennis club?""That for young Henderson. Steinberg too, Ishould say. And you'd better face it. Amy.They've been put up for The Knoll Club andI think they'U get in."She couldn't believe it. After all her plansand all she had done? After the committee'sunanimous resolution? Where could they havefailed? She'd been certain for years that hergirls had their husbands under incontrovertiblecontrol.She began to wilt when she got more out ofAlec."Well, there's Carruthers to start with, withreal estate the way it is. The tradesmen camenext—Connolly, Ridgeway, and Hobbs. Steinbergcan easily shop somewhere else, and itseems his custom is considerable.""They couldn't!""They already do."It took her quite a minute to get over that.And then"But there are still the councillors, surely,"she said. "Worthington, Horace Haley, JimmyAdams, Ben Hudson, Harry Stuart . . ."What came next did at least come quietly,she had to admit. But never in her life hadshe known Alec to be quite so brutal."Amy," he said, "you've underestimatedhuman nature too much just for once. BertWorthington, remember, is a stockbroker, andhe'd be an idiot to miss the chance of Steinberg'saccount. Horace Haley's a lawyer, soneed I say more? Tim Adams has got threenew cars to be fuelled and serviced, apart fromthe fact that Steinberg changes his modelspretty well every year. Ben Hudson, of course,is doing the renovating.""And Harry Stuart?" she did manage toventure. "What could Harry make out ofsomeone like Steinberg?"But—^"Plenty, I should think," came thecrushing reply. "Steinberg collects rare manuscripts,and he's appointed Stuart his agent.""Then you mean that ""What I mean. Amy, is that it's moneyyou're fighting. And plenty of it. Not onlySteinberg's, but the whole district's as well. Andyou might, if I may say so, have overlookedhuman nature as well—that being what it is."She was crushed and she knew it, but shestill wouldn't give in."Then I for one," she resolved, "will neverhave anything to do with them. I shan't evenspeak to them. Nor will you. Nor will Andy.Don't ever let me catch you, not with eitherof the monsters!"* * *Then the parties began.The Carruthers, of course, were the first toask both Steinberg and Henderson, then theStuarts followed suit. At least it was only cocktails—tillthe Worthingtons had them fordinner and the Haleys did lunch. Of course itwas just a matter of time before Steinberg'sinvitations began to he sent. She tore theirsup immediately and what's more she told Alec.Even if there were forty people for dancingand buffet and champagne the whole night,nothing, but nothing, would induce her to go.The following weekend, there were to beeven more. A garden party round the pool,they all let her know. Such food, catered bythe Waldorf in the city, had never beforereached The Heights. The women were nearlybankrupting their husbands, she'd heard, intrying to outdress each other. Fools, fools thatthey were! For a couple of pansies? . . .And speaking of that, there was talk of somerather weird stag parties at times. Well, they'dexpected it, hadn't they? She'd warned them,hadn't she? The absolutely awful thing aboutit was: it seemed to have drawn a fair numberof participants from the district itself. Peopleno one would have dreamed of. The golf profor one, the Adams boy for another, thathouse-termite sprayer and even the ReverendReggie Baker. She hoped it was only talk. Butone never knew . . .The third invitation was the filthiest of all.10 WESTERLY, No. I, MARCH, 1968