“But . . . what about you? You helped, too, and a lot more than I did. Shouldn’t you get that money?”

“Some of it, yes, but I couldn’t possibly take it since I promised Gideon I had given all that up.”

“But Gideon knows you helped with that con.”

“Yes, and he did, too, in his own way, but we didn’t do it for the money. That makes a difference, at least to Gideon.”

“I didn’t do it for the money, either.”

“I know, dear one. You did it for the excitement, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t benefit. You don’t have to answer to a painfully honest husband, after all.”

“And I never will,” Anna said with some satisfaction. “But why would Jake go to so much trouble for me?”

“Because you’re his friend. I think you may be the only friend he’s ever had.”

“But I’m a female.”

“That’s what he likes best about you, I think. Men are always competing with one another and women want to get married. You don’t compete and you don’t want to marry him. You’re also smart and clever, and I think he feels smart and clever when he’s with you.”

“And that makes him want to give me money?” Anna asked doubtfully.

“It’s his way of showing his respect for the way you performed.”

“He can be very aggravating,” Anna reminded her.

“He’s a man. Try not to hold that against him.”

That finally brought a small smile to Anna’s lips. It lasted only a moment, though, before she remembered her other problems. “I may need that money to support us if Mother ruins us, though.”

“Nonsense. You’re going to college so you can have a profession and support yourself for the rest of your life. Your whole future depends on it. You can’t give that up.”

“But what about Madame Ophelia?”

Elizabeth pretended to consider this very seriously. “Hmmm, Madame Ophelia. She’s surely a con artist. I’ve never tried to con another con artist, but I think it could be a lot of fun.”

—

Elizabeth wore a veil when she went to Dan the Dude’s Saloon on Twenty-eighth Street. She wasn’t ashamed of her connection to the place, but she didn’t want Gideon to be embarrassed if someone saw her and reported it in a gossip column. Why anyone should care where she went was a mystery, but Gideon’s family was one of the oldest society families in New York, and people did care.