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say.
    "Well, it's downright indecent, and there is no way I will ever raise my skirts."
    Marian laughed.
    "I might consider it one day.  It would keep the hems cleaner, don't you think?"
    "The men in this town would go wild.  You mark my words."
    "And I also read that slippers will replace button shoes."
    Now Becky's face turned a bright red.
    "Sodom and Gomorrah.  That's what it will be around here."
    Marian pressed her lips together to suppress a smile as Becky stormed off to the kitchen.  As soon as the kitchen door closed, Marian ran to the parlor, buried her face in a pillow, and laughed.

Chapter 7
    The Mason house on Oak Avenue was the biggest house in New Beach.  Its graceful lines and Corinthian columns caught the eye of passersby, who would stand on the sidewalk and discuss the cost of building such a large residence.  After all, Margaret Mason was a childless widow of fifty-five.  Why did she need such a large house?
    Margaret had moved to New Beach from Long Branch when her husband of thirty years, Frederick, died at the age of seventy.  He had amassed a large fortune by manufacturing silk at his mill in Paterson, and when he sold the business in 1885, they moved to Long Branch so he could live out his days by the sea.  Frederick was a good businessman and invested well.
    Frederick only bought stocks in companies he was well acquainted with, and he was personally acquainted with Mr. Bell and Mr. Edison.  He didn't believe in giving money to anyone unless he shook their hand and felt their "vibrations."
    When he died, Margaret grieved, for she had truly loved her husband.  There had been no children and he was all she'd had. She couldn't bear to live in the home they shared and sold it within six months of his passing.  An acquaintance told her about New Beach and Margaret visited the small beach town.  She fell in love with the town immediately and hired Horace Beecham to build her a house.  Horace had never built anything so large, and he had to hire men from Long Branch to fulfill the contract.  Horace's nephew, newly graduated from Rutgers with a degree in architecture, drew the plans for the mini-mansion, which Margaret saw as a small Roman villa nestled in the pines.
    Instead of a foyer, there was a portico with a marble fountain.  Goldfish swam in the pool under the fountain.  The portico led into a dining room on the right, a study and a parlor on the left, and in the center, a staircase leading to the second floor.  The kitchen, at the back of the house, also had a staircase to the second floor, and a staircase leading to the basement and wine cellar.
    The stairs ran up the center of the portico to the second floor landing.  From the second floor, Margaret could look out over a railing into the portico.  Her bedroom was the first room on the right.  It was the largest room on the second floor and contained a marble fireplace, ornate ceilings adorned with sculpted cupids, and paintings by relatively unknown artists Margaret had discovered such as Claude Monet.  She had a private bath with a large marble tub that resembled a roman bath.  The fixtures on the sink were gold, and the windows in both the bath and the bedroom were covered in silk Roman style shades that Margaret had custom made by a designer in New York City.
    There were two other bedrooms with similar décor, but the ceilings were plain.  The bathroom off the hallway was less ornate than her private bath, but she had also installed Roman shades on the windows.  The tub had clawed feet and the sink plain, brass fixtures.
    Margaret was very proud of her home and would often entertain her neighbors with quasi Roman orgies where nothing of a sexual nature took place.  They were food orgies, with a huge table filled with sumptuous delights the people of New Beach had never heard of such as caviar and baklava.
    The townspeople loved Margaret's parties and loved her as well, which is why they were so concerned when she allowed