Philosopher.

"The more reason, then, that we should give them no anxiety on my
account."

"I'd like to walk the whole way," said he.

I laughed as I obeyed the signal of an impatient guard and rushed upon
the train. "Now, talk to me," said I, as we took our seats.

"My lungs weren't built for the Toreador song," he objected.

IV

ALTHEA AND THE PROMOTER

What an interesting fellow our host is! He is almost more
interesting because of the qualities he does not possess, than
because of the qualities that he does possess.
--_Arthur Christopher Benson._

"'_Be it ever so humble_,'" quoted the Skeptic under his breath to me,
"'_there's no place like_----'"

Hepatica turned and gave him a smiling look which nevertheless conveyed
warning. He needed it. The Skeptic was in a mad and merry mood to-night,
and no glance shot at him which, being interpreted, meant that we were
under our hosts' roof, had thus far been of avail. "We are not under
their roof," he argued defiantly, in reply to one of these silent
remonstrances. "This isn't their roof. This is the roof of the Hotel
Amazon. That's a very different thing. So different that if I lived
under it I'd----"

But the Promoter was approaching us again, with the news that dinner
had just been announced as served. He immediately led the way with me,
Hepatica followed with the Philosopher, and Althea and the Skeptic
brought up the rear. It was on the great staircase that the Skeptic,
pausing to gaze upward, at a command from the Promoter, who had just bid
him observe certain mural decorations done by the distinguished hand of
some man of whom I fear none of us had ever heard, murmured the
well-known words concerning the humble home.

"I always like to walk down this staircase when I'm not in a hurry," I
had heard Althea saying to the Skeptic behind us, "to get the effect
from the landing. Isn't it wonderful?"

We all paused upon the landing, which was about thirty feet square. The
Skeptic, leaning against the marble balustrade, gazed out over the scene
with an air of prostrating himself before a shrine. Awe and wonder
dominated his aspect. Only we who were familiar with a certain curving
line over his left eyebrow knew that he was longing to break into an
apostrophe on the magnificence before him which would have alienated
Althea and her husband forevermore.

"These columns are of the purest (something) marble," declared the
Promoter, l