Bought and Paid For

morning newspapers before a table still covered with breakfast dishes. It was nearly ten o'clock, long past the hour when most people begin th

y were not looking their best, and the reason, as well as the explanation of their late rising might possibly be found in the disorder which a cursory glance around the room revealed. Dress coats, white ties, patent leather p

same age. Both had the blasé air of men who had lived and lived hard. All of life's fiercer joys they had known to excess, which explained, perhaps, why they were tired and disillusionized

understand?-cut it out. So don't ask me again-it's no use. I've got a fearful headache this morning-and I'm so sleepy that I'd like to go to bed for a week. It's idiotic for a man to make such an infernal ass of himself. It knoc

rejoined his vis-à-vis laconically, w

finance. Men of exceptional capacity, success had come easily to them, and with success had come money and power. Hadley was now vice-president of one of the biggest steel concerns in the country, and Stafford had been even more successful. Attracted to railroading he had found employment with a western road, and soon displayed such a positive genius for organization that he quickly excited the attention of easte

nion's silence, Staffo

I'm going to

, his ire rous

rty that knocked you out." Pointing significantly to the empty bottles of champagne on the side tables, he went on: "That's wha

a hand over hi

have been drunk when I got home. I took the

ere any man alive capable of keeping you fr

d contritely, "I recall

you rang for champagne. You're a nic

below, teeming with life, the surging, confused mass of pedestrians and vehicles, the close network of side-streets filled with busy traffic, the silvery Hudson with sailing vessels and steamships departing f

a hotel when you have your apartment on Riverside-and such an apartment!-a veritable palace, fi

," answered his

a desk on the other side of the room, was busy glancing over a

that's just why'?" dem

ooked up a

raft, I can't think of what I want to say because my eyes are fascinated by the Peachblow vases on top of the bookcase. You haven't seen the vases, have you, Fred? They're 'peaches,' all right. I gave $3,000

ak things-nightingale tongues and such stuff. No-thanks. Your Oku's a decent little sort, as Ja

laughed

ome I'm an art lover, revelling in the treasures I have succeeded in collecting; here I am a vulgar business person, occupied in the undignified task of making money. Only last week, when I was home, I got thinking out a plan one night in the library for a merger with a road which is cutting pretty badly into our bu

ll Maude looked last night? If she's a day, that woman is forty, yet no one would take h

hrugged hi

hairdresser can work m

d about for years before Stanton fell into her clutches. He's dippy about her-pays for that apartment and gives her a handsome allowance, bought her an aut

y her, if he's got i

at his frien

re you?" he demanded. "Ma

y and reform her by throwing around her a cloak of respectability. Why is the woman what she is? Because pleasure-loving bl

aughed o

cial reformer? Who ever expected such advice from the man who could always get away with more booze at a sitting than any ma

man took it g

hat have we in return? Nothing. The years slip quickly by; we find ourselves getting old, and there's no one round who really cares a jot whether we live or die-except, possibly our relatives, who look forward to the latter. Genuine affection is absolutely foreign to our existence. We have no one t

up to the ceiling, Hadley gave

words, you want a wife to share with you the artistic treasur

ding, wholesome laugh, th

Stanton and the rest of the boys are a jolly crowd. You've given me many a good time, but, I tell you, old

fortable, deep-seated armchair, contented himself with puffing his cigar

girl you're courting will seem to you a very different person after marriage. She'll be an old-man-of-the-sea hanging around your neck whom you can't shake off. Your trouble will only begin when you

apers and letters piled up on his

etters." Helplessly he added: "I don't know how I

get a ste

t's not a bad idea.

to the telephone switchboard and do typewriting as well. One is a g

haired girl just now. I've got an important deal on hand. She might queer my luck.

ta!" He was going out when he turned round at the door. "Say-don't for

med and Staff

-a directors' meeting at 2 o'clock, people to see at his office. But just now his thoughts were not on his work. He was cogitating on what he had just admitted

happy, when there was no one to share his happiness, his success? His parents were dead; he had no brothers or sisters. He was all alone in the world, and the older he got the more he was beginning t

arried, he would rule his own household; no woman would venture to dictate to him. He would insist on his absolute independence, do as he chose, go where he liked. He would be the master. If the husband had not the right to command, who had? When a pair of horses was sold, did they not belong to the purchaser? A wife was, in a sense, a purchase. The average society girl who gets married nowadays practically sells herself. She wants a man with money-a man who will give her jewels and clothes and an establishment that w

re came a gentle rap at the door. Instantly galvan

me

eshold, as if fearing to enter. She was attired in deep mourning, and the simple black dress, relieved only by a little white lace collar rou

for a ste

uty, at a loss for a moment what to say, t

by all means-won

ictation. Stafford looked fixedly at her. He remembered now having seen her

is you

e," she rep

ore, haven't w

r, she would close her book and walk out. It was much against her will that she had come up, alone, to a man's apartment. Bu

he other day. I'm on the telephone desk, y

note her well-bred manner, her quiet aloo

ad quite some difficulty in ge

as trouble o

e?" he smiled, making an effort

ss. She must make it plain that hers was not a so

dictatio

k; the correspondence could wait. But there was an icy haughtiness in the girl's demeanor that discouraged any further attempt