thrown on it. Their grace, too, the dancing about
which they made such a stir,--not to compare it with La Clavel's but
with no better than Pilar's--was hardly more than a rapid clumsy
posturing. Where was the young man now who could dance for two hours
without stopping on a spot scarcely bigger than the rim of his silk
hat?

Where, indeed, was the silk hat!

Even men's clothes had suffered in the common decline: black satin and
gold, nicely cut trousers, the propriety of pumps, had all vanished.
Charles Abbott recalled distinctly the care with which he had
assembled the clothing to be taken to Cuba, the formal dress of
evening, with a plum-colored cape, and informal linens for the
tropical days. The shirt-maker had filled his box with the finest
procurable cambrics and tallest stocks. Trivialities, yet they
indicated what had once been breeding; but now, incredibly, that was
regarded as trivial.

The Spanish Rhapsody had ceased, and the sun was all but withdrawn
from the street; twilight was gathering, particularly in Charles
Abbott's reception room. The gilded eagle of the old American clock on
the over-mantel seemed almost to flutter its carved wings, the fragile
rose mahogany spinet held what light there was, but the pair of small
brocaded sofas had lost their severe definition. Charles Abbott's
emotion, as well, subsided, its place taken by a concentrated effort
to put together the details of a scene which had assumed, in his
perplexity about Howard, a present significance.

He heard, with a momentarily diverted attention, the closing of the
front door beyond, women's voices on the pavement and the changing
gears of a motor: Mrs. Vauxn and her daughter were going out early for
dinner. They lived together--the girl had married into the navy--and
it was the former who played the piano. The street, after their
departure, was silent again. How different it was from the clamorous
gaiety of Havana.

Not actual sickness, Charles Abbott proceeded, but the delicacy of his
lungs, following scarlet fever, had taken him south. A banking
associate of his father's, recommending Cuba, had, at the same time,
pointedly qualified his suggestion; and this secondary consideration
had determined Charles on Havana. The banker had added that Cuba was
the most healthful place he knew for anyone with no political
attachments. There political activity, more than an indiscretion, was
fatal. What did he mean? Charles Abbott had asked; a