the curtains again to open the window
wide, following his usual program. As he did so he glanced into his
mirror. He saw her open window, but it was lifeless. Only his own
disappointed face confronted him.

CHAPTER III

LAURIE MEETS MISS MAYO

Laurie thought much that day about the girl in the mirror, and he was
again home at eleven that night, to the wonder of Mr. Bangs, who freely
expressed his surprise.

"Something pleasant been coming your way?" he tactfully asked.

Laurie evaded the question, but he felt that something definitely
pleasant had come his way. This something was a new interest, and he had
needed a new interest very much. He hoped he would dream of the girl
that night, but as he and Bangs unwisely consumed a Welsh rabbit before
they went to bed, he dreamed instead of something highly unpleasant, and
was glad to be awakened by the clear sunlight of a brilliant January
day.

After breakfast he strolled across the square into the somber hall of
the studio building on its southwest corner. The hall was empty, but he
found and rang a bell at the entrance of a dingy elevator shaft. The
elevator descended without haste. When it had reached the floor, the
colored youth in charge of it inhospitably filled its doorway and
regarded the visitor with indifference. This young man was easy to look
at, but he was no one he knew.

Laurie handed him a dollar and the youth's expression changed, first to
one of surprise, then to the tolerance of a man who is wise and is
willing to share his wisdom. The visitor went at once to the point of
his visit.

"A young lady lives here," he began. "She is very pretty, and she has
reddish hair and brown eyes. She has a studio in one of the upper
floors, at the front of the house. What's her name?"

The boy's face showed that he had instantly recognized the description,
but he pondered dramatically.

"Dat young lady?" he then said. "Dat young lady mus' be Miss Mayo, in
Twenty-nine, on de top flo'. She jes' moved in here las' Tuesday."

"Where does she come from, and what does she do?"

The boy hesitated. What did all this mean? And was he giving up too much
for a dollar? Laurie grinned at him understandingly.

"I don't know her," he admitted, "and I don't expect to. I'd like to
know something about her--that's all."

The youth nodded. He had the air of accepting an apology.

"I reckon she come fum some fur'n place. But I dunno what she _do_," he
reluctantly