A Man and His Money

that Miss Elizabeth Dalrymple was probably so absorbed in the prince-remembering her rather effusive greeting of that fortunate individ

h a dire sense of fate knocking at the door, he passed her on to Miss Van Rolsen, to be freshly be-ribboned by that lady's own particular hand. The thin bony finger he thought w

to, or going from the house, he lingered around the area entrance, purposely to encounter her whom he had heretofore, above all others, wished to avoid. A feverish desire possessed him to meet the worst, and then go abou

aid to the indistinctly seen, slender figu

or opened. He heard a crisp metallic click; the door closed. Slowly with head a little downbent he walked out

e opened the door. He had started up the dark narrow stairs to his chamber, but stopped at that sound and groped about from

tion was intolerable. He went up to his room feeling like a ghost; his mind was full of dark presences, as if he had lived a thousan

a kind of espionage; to trap him and put him beyond the pale of respectable society. He remembered the cruel lips, the passionate dislike-conte

fied, Madam, with my

at afternoon to

ell enough," she

rhaps some one els

rned dryly. "But I'

quite so much as they did. Naughty, in particular," he added quickly

ng him with disconcerting k

. B

sh to give me notice?"

hat. Only I thought you might have felt dissatisfied-people usually

ning. The begging list, though smaller than usual-only thr

he thought, little knowing the extraordinary new web he was weaving!-but before that time came, several things happened. In the first place he discovered that Miss Dalrymple was not entirely pleased

keep a social secretary," M

at the time. Nor could he help hearing; he didn't try to listen; he certainly didn't wish to, though she had a very sweet voice-th

e a social secretary?" the voi

ruly Russian tones, with

ed about people their secretaries usu

therbloom thought he heard the

ated-angry?" observed the

you?" s

bourgeois conf

straighter; the water

n the sonorous low voic

ling of leaves, or of a gown; then-Mr. Heatherbloom rel

! How well y

htly rising inflection in the man'

ssian prince? No, inde

rnest," he

uld perceive, also, as plainly as if he were in that other room, the deep ardent eyes of the prince downbent upon the blither ones, the co

heard that line in a play once. One of the Robertson kind; it was given by a stock co

d the pri

bloom could, in imagination, "fill in" all the stage details. If it only

like an Italian title. Something very disagreeable happened to the heroine. A woman, or a girl

Golden Gate, but I hope to go there some day-with you!" he added. His words were simple; the accent alone

ed oddly. He half started to get up, then sank back. He

on to your being one of a train par

s courtliest tones. But it wasn't hard to picture him no

g pause; broken once m

return to th

-tacit assent? The casting off of barriers, the opening of the gates of the divine inner citadel? Mr. Heatherbloom was on his feet now. He took a ste

of soap?-grotesque anomaly! His face wore a strange expression; he was laughing inwa

ancestors figures in it. The hero-who is not exactly a hero, perhaps, in the heroine's mind, for a time-does what he must do; he has what he must have. He claims what nature made for him; he knows no other law than that of

t like sunshine. He liked to think of the picture. The prince, too, was necessary to complete it; necessary, reaffirmed Mr. Heatherbloom to himself, pulling with damp fingers at the inconsequential lock of hair over his brow. Of cours

was it both of them?-seemed a little misty. That confounded soap!

tub, he found he could shut a definite cognizance of words almost entirely from his sense of hearing. The prince's voice seemed slightly louder; that, in a general way, was patent; no doubt the

ontentedly immersed to the neck in nice comfortably warm water, licked him. He did not feel the touch; the fragrance

click he had listened to when she had shut the front door so unceremoniously on him a short time before. Then he heard nothing more. He gazed around him as he sat with his hands tightly