That Fortune

seen Evelyn again, more than once, at the opera, and twice been excited by a passing glimpse of her on a crisp, sunny afternoon in the Mavick carriage in the Park-always the same bright, eager face.

houghts and his future in a very curious way. If he saw himself a successful lawyer, her image appeared beside him. If his story should gain the public attention, and his occasional essays come to be talked of, it was Evelyn's interest and approval that he caught himself thinking about. And he had a conviction that she was one to be much more interested in him as a man of letters than as a lawyer. Thi

merely that he had confidence in the winning character of his own qualities and was biding his time? If it was a question of making himself accept

at Philip was not really halting. Every day he was less and less in love with the law as it was practiced, and, courting reputation, he would much rather be a great author than a great lawyer. But he kept such thoughts to himself. He had inherited a very good stock of common-sense. Apparently he devoted himself to his office work, and about the occupation of his lei

ip fondly hoped. And one day chance threw in his way another sensation. Late in the afternoon of a spr

"at home about six. Wait till you do see him. The paper

enger of his lawyers, and was soon busy in examining the documents, flingi

not waiting for a summons, a young girl e

didn'

Mavick, looking up a moment

had a paper in her hand, and advanced towards the table

ed up quickly. "Yes, presently. I've just

and leaving the room. And she looked just as true and sweet as Philip dreamed she would look at home. He sat in a kind of maze for the quarter of an hour while Mavick was affixing his signature and giving some directions. He hea

r. Philip had read in romances of love at first sight, and he had personal experience of it. Commonly, in romances, the woman gives no sign of it, does not admit it to herself, denies it in her words and in her conduct, and never owns it until the final surrender. "When was the first moment you began to love me, dear?" "Why, the first moment,

less, and at no initial instant did he conceive his scheme of conquest. Nor was it one event that set him in motion. We confound events with causes. It happened on such a day. Yes, but it might have happened on another. But if Philip had not been sent on that errand to Mavick probably Evelyn wo

play about her image, seen only at a distance and not many times, until his imagination built up a being of surpassing loveliness, and endowed with all the attractions that the poets in all ages have given to the sex that inspires them. But this sort of creation in the mind becomes vague, and related to literature only, unless it is sustained by some reality. Even Petrarch must occasionally see Laura at the church door, and dwell upon t

uish her from the other girls of her age and newness in social experience. Certainly the thought that she was the possessor of uncounted millions would have been, on his side, an insuperable barrier to any advance. Bu

or to life, refined his perceptions, and gave him almost sensuous delight in the masterpi

o express sentiment, and to take long walks to the confines of the city-confines fringed with all the tender suggestions of the opening spring. Even the monotonous streets which he walked were illumined in his eyes, glorified by the fullness of life and achievement. "Yes," he said again and again, as he stood on the Heights, in view of the river, the green wall of Jersey and the great metropolis spread away to

ticised, she did not nag, and just because she made no demands, nor laid any claims on him, nor ever reproached him for want of devotion, her society was delightful and never dull. They dined together at the Woman's Club, they experimented on the theatres, they visited the galleries and the pict

not sufficient respect for his opinions; she

thusiasm for some paintings that Celia thought more sentimental than artistic, an

hilip, to care so

been see

you like that? Lo

tells th

t's the way it's told.

me. Look a

do not prefer an impressionistic girl, whom you can't ha

d you rathe

f. If it's art, I want art; if it's cooking and sewing, I want cooking an

n't care for

ansform this uninteresting piece of domesticity into an ideal woman, e

ry world if we didn

w what has got into you, Phil. I never saw you so exuberant. You are pleased wi

ly. Threw an extra job in my way the other day. Do you thi

le, in

the great publishing firms, and Twee

hame,

into it a lot of line scenery, and set my people traveling on the great trunk, stopping off now and then a

feel as if there were no protection for anything. And, Phil, that great m

an like Mavick has his

u ever

glim

out whom such a fuss was made

u, at the opera; s

nd

ing; rather dark, I told you

n't tell wha

wear. Something ligh

a man. Is s

notice her eyes." If Philip had

adorable," and Celia would h

ated'; I see so many of them. I've been making them now for years. Perhaps I'm one of them. And where am I? Do

ho

Mavick

mas', I

I suppose you go there too, bein

s the matter with you? I thought you didn'

ne conclusion. There are only two persons in the world who stand on a solid foundation, the Roman C

im; nor, when she was in earnest, how long she would r

know too much to be either. You

. I never knew a woman who said she was emancipated who wasn't in some ridiculous folly or another. Now, Phil, I'm going to tell you something. I can tell you. You know I've been striving to have a career, to get out of

e up edu

rying to find out about my mind and mind generally, the more mysterious everything is. Do you know, Phil, that I'm getting into the supernatural? You can't help running into it. For me, I am not si

lly anything more about the operation in the world of electricity than he does about the operation of

, Ce

to the other room and see the old masters. They, at least, knew how to paint-to paint passion and character; s