THE THREE NIECES The Von Taers did not affect motor cars.

In some circles the carriage and pair is still considered the more aristocratic mode of conveyance.
Established customs do not readily give way to fads and freaks.
Consulting her memoranda as she rode along; in her handsome, tastefully appointed equipage, Diana found that Louise Merrick, one of the three girls she had set out to discover, was the nearest on her route.
Presently she rang the bell at the Merrick residence, an eminently respectable dwelling; in a desirable neighborhood.
Diana could not resist a sigh of relief as her observant glance noted this detail.

A dignified butler ushered her into a reception room and departed with her card.
It was now that the visitor's nose took an upward tendency as she critically examined her surroundings.

The furnishings were abominable, a mixture of distressingly new articles with those evidently procured from dealers in "antiquities." Money had been lavished here, but good taste was absent.

To understand this--for Miss Von Taer gauged the condition truly--it is necessary to know something of Mrs.Martha Merrick.
This lady, the relict of John Merrick's only brother, was endowed with a mediocre mind and a towering ambition.