eft--and had contracted debts that
made it necessary for him to raise at least a thousand dollars within a
week. He saw that his freedom with sums of money which terrified her
filled her with awe and admiration--and that he was already more
successful than he had expected to be, in increasing her hesitation
about leaving him. Among the things they had bought were a simple black
chiffon dress and a big plumed black hat to match. These needed no
alterations and were delivered soon after they returned. Some silk
stockings came also and a pair of slippers bought for the dinner toilet.

"You can dress to-night," said he, "and I'll take you to Sherry's, and
to the theater afterwards."

She was delighted. At last she was going to look like the women of whom
she had been dreaming these last few months. She set about dressing
herself, he waiting in the sitting room in a state of acute nervousness.
What would be the effect of such a toilet? Would she look like a
lady--or like--what she had suggested that morning? She was so
changeable, had such a wide range of variability that he dared not hope.
When she finally appeared, he was ready to fall down and worship. He was
about to take her where his world would see her, where every inch of her
would be subjected to the cruelest, most hostile criticism. One glance
at her, and he knew a triumph awaited him. No man and no woman would
wonder that he had lost his head over such beauty as hers. Hat and dress
seemed just what had been needed to bring out the full glory of her
charms.

"You are incredibly beautiful," he said in an awed tone. "I am proud of
you."

A little color came into her cheeks. She looked at herself in the mirror
with her quiet intense secret, yet not covert vanity. He laughed in
boyish pleasure. "This is only the small beginning," said he. "Wait a
few months."

At dinner and in a box at the theater afterwards, he had the most
exquisite pleasure of his life. She had been seen by many of his former
friends, and he was certain they knew who she was. He felt that he would
have no difficulty in putting her in the place his wife should occupy. A
woman with such beauty as hers was a sensation, one fashionable society
would not deny itself. She had good manners, an admirable manner. With a
little coaching she would be as much at home in grandeur as were those
who had always had it.

The last fear of losing her left him. On the way back to the hotel he,
in a delirium of