ither I shall wake up soon or I shall find myself in a lunatic asylum.'
He was curiously reminded of the conjuring performance at the Alhambra.

He said:

'Thanks awfully, I'm sure!'

A large grandiose notion swept over him that he had a great mission in
the world.

'That's all I have to say to you,' said Mark Snyder pawkily.

Henry wanted to breathe instantly the ampler ether of the street, but
on his way out he found Geraldine in rapid converse with the middle-aged
and magnificently-dressed woman who thought that a lift could go up and
down at once. They became silent.

'_Good_-morning, Miss Foster,' said Henry hurriedly.

Then a pause occurred, very brief but uncomfortable, and the stranger
glanced in the direction of the window.

'Let me introduce you to Mrs. Ashton Portway,' said Geraldine. 'Mrs.
Portway, Mr. Knight.'

Mrs. Portway bent forward her head, showed her teeth, smiled, laughed,
and finally sniggered.

'So glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Knight!' she burst out loudly
and uncontrollably, as though Geraldine's magic formula had loosened a
valve capable of withstanding enormous strains. Then she smiled,
laughed, and sniggered: not because she imagined that she had achieved
humour, but because that was her way of making herself agreeable. If
anybody had told her that she could not open her mouth without
sniggering, she would have indignantly disbelieved the statement.
Nevertheless it was true. When she said the weather was changeable, she
sniggered; when she hoped you were quite well, she sniggered; and if
circumstances had required her to say that she was sorry to hear of the
death of your mother, she would have sniggered.

Henry, however, unaccustomed to the phenomena accompanying her speech,
mistook her at first for a woman determined to be witty at any cost.

'I'm glad to meet you,' he said, and laughed as if to insinuate that
that speech also was funny.

'I was desolated, simply desolated, not to see you at Miss Foster's "at
home,"' Mrs. Ashton Portway was presently sniggering. 'Now, will you
come to one of my Wednesdays? They begin in November. First and third. I
always try to get interesting people, people who have done something.'

'Of course I shall be delighted,' Henry agreed. He was in a mood to
scatter largesse among the crowd.

'That's so good of you,' said Mrs. Ashton Portway, apparently overcome
by the merry jest. 'Now remember, I shall hold you to your promise. I
shall w