Chapter I
Mary Blaine was born on a farm in Galvey, Illinois, but there was nothing in the simple occasion to foretell the lurid, over-colorful life that was to be hers. Even as a child she was in love with life. She liked to bathe nude in the golden ooze of Watson's Marsh. There was no one about to disturb her as she plunged like a slim golden dryad into the purling ooze. Although the water was golden it was neither fetid nor slimy. It laved her soft skin like an elixir of grandeur.
"Some day," she cried, "I shall bathe in a golden bath."
The wind alone heard her boasting and laughed back at her.
Mary Blaine was born to be loved, to be desired of men. She was as much out of place on that rustic farm as an orchid would be in a corn-field. Mary was a carefree child.
Her brother Templeton was ten years her senior and neighbors predicted that he would go far toward success. A boy with such a grand and glorious name as Templeton simply could not fail.
Mary was not particularly studious. Templeton was. He wanted to know everything. He devoured books. He had a legal mind. He liked to read about railroad management and the intricacies of banking. When Mary was old enough to reason for herself, she decided that Templeton had been born old. if he wasn't careful he'd die of old age before he was twenty-five. He seldom smiled, never played much with other children. The only thing that proved he was human was that he had an ungovernable temper and was ready for a fight at the slightest provocation. The battles were furious and they usually ended decisively. When Templeton Blaine licked another guy, that guy stayed licked.
When Mary was eight years old, Templeton won a scholarship for Harvard and after that she seldom saw him except for a while during summer vacations. But she never missed him.
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