otested his sanity, but Deering
had heard somewhere that a confident belief in their mental soundness is
a common hallucination of lunatics. Still, the stranger's steady gray
eyes did not encourage the suspicion that he was mad. Deering's own
reason, already severely taxed, was unequal to the task of dealing with
this assured and cheerful Hood, who looked like a gentleman but talked
like a fool.

"For God's sake, who are you and what do you want?" he demanded angrily.

Hood pushed him gently into a chair, utterly ignoring his fury.

"What time do we dine? Seven-thirty, I think your servant told me. I
shan't dress if you don't mind. Speaking of clothes, that man of yours is
a very superficial observer; let me in on the strength of my automobile
coat, and I suppose the machine impressed him too. If he'd looked under
the surface at these poor rags, I'd never have got by! That illustrates
an ancient habit of the serving class in thinking all is gold that
glitters. Snobs! Deplorable weakness! Let's talk like sensible men till
the gong sounds."

Deering shook himself impatiently. This absurd talk, carefully
calculated, he assumed, to prolong his misery, had torn his nerves to
shreds. Hood sat down close to him in a straight-backed chair, crossed
his legs, and thrust his hands into his coat pockets.

"My dear boy, in the name of all the gods at once, cheer up! To satisfy
your very natural curiosity, I'll say that I fancied you were in trouble
and needed a strong arm to sustain you in your hour of trial. Laudable
purpose--ah, I see you begin to feel more comfortable. I have every
intention of playing the big brother to you for a few hours, weeks, or
months, or till you come out of your green funk. You wonder, of course,
what motive I have for intruding in this way--lying to your servant, and
making myself at home in your house. The motive, so far as there is any,
is the purely selfish one of finding enjoyment for myself, while
incidentally being of service to you. And you're bound to admit that
that's a fair offer in this world of greed and selfishness. The great
trouble with most of us is that the flavor so soon wears out of the
chewing-gum. Do you remember the last time you had a good, hearty laugh?
I'll wager you don't!"

Deering scowled, but Hood continued to expound his philosophy:

"The world's roaring along at such a rate we can't find happiness
anywhere but in the dictionary. It's worrying me to death, just the