pression of those sunken eyes which was not wholly
approving. They seemed to Claudia like small steel gimlets, piercing
into her soul! As he bade her good-bye that evening, John Biggs
announced coolly:

"I shall see you again on Thursday, as arranged!" and when Claudia
exclaimed, he waved aside her protests with a sarcastic laugh.

"You have been at pains to tell me exactly what you are to be doing
every day of this week! Didn't you _intend_ me to meet you?"

Claudia shrugged her shoulders, and took refuge in her usual honesty.

"Well--I _did_! But you might have pretended that I didn't. It's
rather unkind to show that you see through my poor little machinations
with such ease."

"I never pretend," said John Biggs. His eyes rested on the string of
imitation pearls encircling the slender neck, and he spoke again,
roughly, insolently: "Why do you deck yourself with sham beads?"

"Because I have nothing better, of course. What a stupid question to
ask!"

"You ought to wear emeralds," he said. "They are the stones for you,
with your complexion and eyes. You ought to wear emeralds. Ropes of
emeralds."

"I intend to!" answered Claudia calmly.

Their eyes met, and they stared at one another; a cold and challenging
stare.

During the next fortnight Society watched with interest the progress of
the affair between "Beauty and the Beast," and speculation was rife as
to its outcome. Would he propose; and, if so, would she--_could_ she
accept? It seemed impossible to her friends that even Claudia, the
mercenary, could sell herself to this ogre-like man. But Claudia
herself had no hesitation.

On the fifteenth day after their introduction, the couple sat together
under a tree at one of the outdoor functions of the year, and John Biggs
asked a sudden question:

"What did you think of me," he asked, "when you first saw me that
evening at the Rollos'?"

Claudia smiled at him with the sweetness of an angel.

"I thought," she said, "you were the ugliest man I had ever seen!"

"And yet," he said sneering, "you made eyes at me across the room. You
willed me to come and be introduced!"

"Yes, I did. But that," said Claudia serenely, "was because you were
rich."

The gimlet-like eyes stared long and straight at the lovely face,
beneath the rose-crowned hat.

"I think," John Biggs said deliberately, "you are the most soulless
human creature on earth! That lovely body of yours is a shell--a
beautiful she