beyond criticism. His companion, ! do-nothings are the hardest workers
even in her cheap hat and dress, held.
herself with an air that added dis
tinction to the natural beauty of her
face and figure. And it is certain that
she looked at Chandler, with his ani
mated but self-possessed manner and
his frank bh:e eyes, with something
1 not far from admiration in her own
charming face.
Then it was that the Madness of
Manhattan, the Frenzy of Fuss and
Feathers, the Bacillus of Brag, the
Provincial Plague of Pose seized up
on Towers Chandler. He was on
Broadway, surrounded by pomp and
style, and there were eyes to look at
him. On the stage of that comedy
he had assumed to play the one-night
part of a butterfly of fasnion and an
idler of means and taste. He was
dressed for the part, and all his good
angels had not the power to prevent
him from acting it.
So he began to prate to Miss Mar
ian of clubs, of teas, of golf and of
a yacht lying at Larchmont. He could
see that she was vastly impressed by
this vague talk, so he endorsed his
.pose by random insinuations con
cerning great wealth, and mentioned
familiarly a few names that are han
dled reverently By the proletariat. It
was Ghandler's short little day, and
he was wringing from it the best
that could be had, as he saw it. And
yet once or twice he saw the pure
gold of this girl shine through the
mist that his egotism had raised be
tween him arid alL objects." "
"This way of living that you speak
of," she said, "sounds so futile and
purposeless. 'Haven't you any work
to do in the world that might interest
t you more?"
kj "My dearMiss Marian," he ex
W claimed-4"wbrk! Think of dressing
" every day for dinner, of making half
a dozen calls in an afternoon -with
a policeman at every corner ready to
jump into your autoand take you to
the station, if you get up any greater
speed than a 'donkey cart's gait "We
in the land."
The dinner was concluded, the
waiter generously feed, and the two
walked out to the corner where they
had met Miss Marian walked very
well now; her limp was scarcely no
ticeable. "Thank you for a riice time," she
said, frankly. "Inustjrun home now
I liked the dinner very much, Mr.
Chandler."
He shook hands with her, smiling
cordially, and said something -about
a game of bridge at his club.v He.
watched her for a moment, walking
rather rapidly eastward, and then he
found a cab to drive him slowly
homeward.
In his chilly bedroom Chandler laid
away his evening clothes for a sixty
nine days' rest He went about it
thoughtfully.
"That was a stunning girl," he said
to himself. "She's all right, too, I'd
be sworn, even if she does have to
work. Perhaps if I'd told her the truth
instead of that razzle-ddzzle we
might but, confound it! I had to
play up to my clothes.'
Thus spoke the brave who was ,
born and reared in the wigwams of
the tribe of the Manhattans.
The girl, after leaving her enter
tainer, sped swiftly cross-town until
she arrived at a handsome and sedate
mansion two squares to the 'east, fac
ing on that avenue which is the1 high
way of Mammon and the auxiliary
gods. Here she entered hurriedly and
ascended to a room where a hand
some young lady in an elaborate
house dress was looking anxiously
out the window.
"Oh, you madcap!" exclaimed the
elder girl, when the other entered.
"When will you quit frightening us
this way? It is two hours since you
ran out in that rag of an old dress
and Marie's hat. Mamma has been
so alarmed. She sent Louis in the
auto to try to find you. You are a
bad, thoughtless Puss."
" The elder girl touched a button.
lril i'i Si a mmtitakA fi tiitm mm tti-yyyjgygftifig