aved them all away, and
bent anew to his meditations.

Truth to tell--though he would not have owned it--the man was now
dimly conscious of a new force at work upon him; of a change, slowly,
subtly taking place somewhere deep within. He was feebly cognizant of
emotions quite unknown; of unfamiliar sentiments, whose outlines were
but just crystallizing out from the thick magma of his materialistic
soul.

And he fought them; he hated them; they made him appear unto himself
weak, even effeminate! His abhorrence of sentimentalism had been among
the strongest of his life-characteristics; and yet, though he could
not define it, a mellowing something seemed to be acting upon him that
dull, bitterly cold winter morning, that shed a soft glow throughout
his mental chambers, that seemed to touch gently the hard, rugged
things of thought that lay within, and soften away their sharp
outlines. He might not know what lay so heavily upon his thought, as
he sat there alone, with his head sunk upon his breast. And yet the
girl who haunted his dreams would have told him that it was an
interrogation, even the eternal question, "What shall it profit a
man--?"

Suddenly he looked up. The door had opened, he thought. Then he sat
bolt upright and stared.

"Good morning, Mr. Ames. May I come in?"

Come in! Had ever such heavenly music touched his ears before! This
was not another dream! The vision this time was real! He sprang to his
feet. He would have held out his arms to her if he could.

And yet, how dared she come to him? How dared she, after what she had
done? Was this fresh affrontery? Had she come again to flout him? To
stand within the protection which her sex afforded and vivisect anew
his tired soul? But, whatever her motives, this girl did the most
daring things he had ever seen a woman do.

"Isn't it funny," she said, as she stood before him with a whimsical
little smile, "that wherever I go people so seldom ask me to sit
down!"

Ames sank back into his seat without speaking. Carmen stood for a
moment looking about her rich environment; then drew up a chair close
to him.

"You haven't the slightest idea why I have come here, have you?" she
said sweetly, looking up into his face.

"I must confess myself quite ignorant of the cause of this unexpected
pleasure," he returned guardedly, bending his head in mock deference,
while the great wonder retained possession of him.

"Well," she went on lightly, "will you believe