The Auction Block

essing-room that night was a surprise;

inquired Lorelei. "Don't yo

th-garage," he replied, laying aside his stick, gloves, and hat with a care that

nt me to d

best, and make me thi

him, after they had gossiped for a moment. "He r

es

ke the way

re

e was something more. He thinks he

: "Blow him and his job

e Gar

I can't quit-that's one of the peculiarities of a theat

while, but for every-day use, you nee

OU would

iding with a square-to

e to-night

sn't much

re would have been if t

for you

here's one good thing about it-Bob Wha

in. When his sister came down after the last act, he was waiting at the door and

save? Slip it to the shoemakers?" he laughed. "I

ctor's he appraised her with admiring eyes. "You'

s and dressed the part." She surveyed the gaudy dining-room with its towering marble columns, its tremendous crystal f

e it seemed to yawn hungrily for the occupants of the place, rudely inviting them to descend when they had sufficiently admired the costly furnishings. A superb orchestra was playing, hordes of waiters hovered about the serving-tables and sped noiselessly along the carpeted spaces between the dining-tables; but, despite the lights and the music, it was evident that the servitors outnumbered the guests. Nominally high wages were offset by the various deceptions open to an ingenious management; prices were higher here than elsewhere; the coat-rooms were robbers' dens infested by Italian mafiosi; tips wer

e seems to be a strike-breaker in the room. Pipe the gink with the night-shirt under

ampbell Pope,

ffee. Jim continued to eye him with poorly concealed amusement, until Pope led him into conversation, whereupon the youth began to take in the fact that his guest's intelligence and appearance were entirely out of harmony. Wisely, Jim

ered in this evening's papers. Of course, you were dragged in by the hair

queried Jim, with

ith the affair was proof of that; then-the way it was handled! Nobod

paid for copy," inno

but the gang had to pub

ammon paid fifty thou

t. I dare say things wi

rber's

of dismay did not pass unnoticed. He did not relish the gleam in Pope's eyes, and he

a hair-cut in Tony's without fear of family complications now. I suppose Armistead is smoking hop; young Sullivan is

panic swept him lest this fellow should acquaint Lorelei with the truth. Jim lost i

cupants cheerily. In response to Jim's invitation Bob drew up a fourth chair, seated himself, a

e announced, complacent

e the windows barred an

the idea?" i

young career; I mourn the death of a perfectly normal and healthy self-

ive song of the Rhine maiden?

ds of roses, offers of devotion, plaintive invitations to dine, but-the Circuit is a trick theater and it has a thousand doors. All I have to show for my efforts at reparation is a bad cold, a worse temper, and a set of false te

, and she saw that he was in a mood different to any she had ever seen him in. Strange

you, Miss Knig

adfu

nd I was. You see, I was ruder than usual. But I have sobered up purposely to

?" Lorelei rai

and said, politely, "That is

esence of press and public won't you forgive me and help me to bury the hatchet in a Welsh rarebit?" He was speaking directly to her with a genuine appeal in his handsome eyes.

ime she did not respond to the sign. Mr. Proctor himself paused momentarily at the table and rested a hand upon Wharton's shoulder while he voiced a few platitudes. Then in some inexplicable manner Robert found himself not only ordering for himself, but supplementing Jim's MENU with rare and expensive viands. As a great favor, he was advised of a newly imported vintage wine which the proprietor had secured for his own use; if Mr. Wharton wished to try it the steward would appeal direc

him; men paused in passing to exchange a word about stocks, polo, scandal, Newport, tennis, Tuxedo; none were in the least stiff or formal, and all expressed in one way or another their admiration for Lorelei. Women whom she knew were not of her world beamed and smiled at the young millionaire. It was a new experie

shortly, whereupon the former, after allowing Wharton to pay the score, suggested a dance, breezily sweeping aside his

upon various instruments ranging in resonance from a piano to a collection of kitchen utensils. Tables had been crowded around the walls and into the balcony so closely that the occupants rubbed shoulders, but the center of the lower floor was occupied by a roped corral in which a mass of dancers were revolving like a herd of milling cattle. Dusty, tobacco-smoked oriental r

he previous winter the craze for dancing had swept New York like a plague, and the various Barbary Coast figures had reached their highest popularity. Here, too, the rooms were thr

vigorous exercise and rhythmic movement into the midnight life of the city. Women went home in the gray dawn with faces flu

ted from sturdy, temperate forebears-enabled him to keep up the pace; but Lorelei saw that he was already beginning to show its effect. Judging from to-night's experience, he was still, in his sober moments, a normal person; but once he had imbibed beyond a certain point his past excesses uncovered themselves like grinning faces. Alcohol is a capricious master, seldom setting the same task twice, nor directing his slaves into similar pathways. He delights, moreover, in reversing the edge of a person's disposition, m

ed, assumed the burden of entertainment. He, too, adopted a spendthrift g

reed enthusiastically to anything-and Lorelei was only too glad to depart. She had witnessed the pitiful breaking-down of Bob's faculties with a curious blending of concern and dismay, but her protes

pped himself against the wall and regarded her admir

aid, thickly. "Yes! A thousand yesses. And I'm your little

pends up

night, but I like you. I like you differently-understand? Not like the other

t jo

did to-night. Jim's n

n it was al

ntly and nearly

y him?" Lorelei quer

gnificent gesture. "What's money,

y dol

business man, he is. More than that-Oh yes, and I'll take care

favor?" she aske

abnormal emphasis that

ht home from he

ave me break a sacred promise, would you? We're expected-a little game all arranged

g with her wraps, and noted that he was perfectly sober. A moment la

do you live,

most expensive bachelor apa

arlevoix," she t

Jim. "We're going to

N

smothered oath to his lips. Drawing her out of hearing, he mu

t his eyes unflinchingly.

aw that it was distorted with rage. "If you don't

ll s

her roughly. "What are you

ked gambling-house, and that you're working for M

cingly, but she did not recoil, an

ied, brutally. "Are you stuck on

Charlevoix, then seated herself beside Wharton, who was already sinking

k just as plainly. She recalled the ideals, the indefinite but glorious dreams of advancement that she had cherished upon leaving Vale, and realized with a shock how steadily she had degenerated. Where was her girlhood? Where was that self-respect, that purity of impulse and thought that all men recognize as precious? Gradually, bit by bit, they had slipped away. Wisdom had come in their place; knowledge was her

sent him reeling into the vestibule. Then she and