ot of the bed
was a shallow closet where he kept his "other suit" and his evening
clothes; and the door stood open, showing a bare wall. Nothing whatever
was in the closet, and Alice was rather surprised at this for a moment.
"That's queer," she murmured; and then she decided that when he woke he
found the clothes he had slept in "so mussy" he had put on his "other
suit," and had gone out before breakfast with the mussed clothes to have
them pressed, taking his evening things with them. Satisfied with this
explanation, and failing to observe that it did not account for the
absence of shoes from the closet floor, she nodded absently, "Yes, that
must be it"; and, when her mother returned, told her that Walter had
probably breakfasted down-town. They did not delay over this; the
coloured woman had arrived, and the basket's disclosures were important.

"I stopped at Worlig's on the way back," said Mrs. Adams, flushed with
hurry and excitement. "I bought a can of caviar there. I thought we'd
have little sandwiches brought into the 'living-room' before dinner, the
way you said they did when you went to that dinner at the----"

"But I think that was to go with cocktails, mama, and of course we
haven't----"

"No," Mrs. Adams said. "Still, I think it would be nice. We can make
them look very dainty, on a tray, and the waitress can bring them in. I
thought we'd have the soup already on the table; and we can walk right
out as soon as we have the sandwiches, so it won't get cold. Then, after
the soup, Malena says she can make sweetbread pates with mushrooms: and
for the meat course we'll have larded fillet. Malena's really a
fancy cook, you know, and she says she can do anything like that to
perfection. We'll have peas with the fillet, and potato balls and
Brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts are fashionable now, they told me
at market. Then will come the chicken salad, and after that the
ice-cream--she's going to make an angel-food cake to go with it--and
then coffee and crackers and a new kind of cheese I got at Worlig's, he
says is very fine."

Alice was alarmed. "Don't you think perhaps it's too much, mama?"

"It's better to have too much than too little," her mother said,
cheerfully. "We don't want him to think we're the kind that skimp. Lord
knows we have to enough, though, most of the time! Get the flowers in
water, child. I bought 'em at market because they're so much cheaper
there, but they'll keep fresh and nice. You f