the window,
welcomed the smoky smell of lilac, the gramaphones, the choir of the
Baptist chapel, and the sight of three small girls playing cards on the
steps of the police station.

"On such a night as this," said Eeldrop, "I often think of Scheherazade,
and wonder what has become of her."

Appleplex rose without speaking and turned to the files which contained
the documents for his "Survey of Contemporary Society." He removed the
file marked London from between the files Barcelona and Boston where it
had been misplaced, and turned over the papers rapidly. "The lady you
mention," he rejoined at last, "whom I have listed not under S. but as
Edith, alias Scheherazade, has left but few evidences in my possession.
Here is an old laundry account which she left for you to pay, a cheque
drawn by her and marked 'R/D,' a letter from her mother in Honolulu (on
ruled paper), a poem written on a restaurant bill--'To Atthis'--and a
letter by herself, on Lady Equistep's best notepaper, containing some
damaging but entertaining information about Lady Equistep. Then there
are my own few observations on two sheets of foolscap."

"Edith," murmured Eeldrop, who had not been attending to this catalogue,
"I wonder what has become of her. 'Not pleasure, but fulness of life...
to burn ever with a hard gem-like flame,' those were her words. What
curiosity and passion for experience! Perhaps that flame has burnt
itself out by now."

"You ought to inform yourself better," said Appleplex severely, "Edith
dines sometimes with Mrs. Howexden, who tells me that her passion for
experience has taken her to a Russian pianist in Bayswater. She is also
said to be present often at the Anarchist Tea Rooms, and can usually be
found in the evening at the Cafe de l'Orangerie."

"Well," replied Eeldrop, "I confess that I prefer to wonder what has
become of her. I do not like to think of her future. Scheherazade grown
old! I see her grown very plump, full-bosomed, with blond hair, living
in a small flat with a maid, walking in the Park with a Pekinese,
motoring with a Jewish stock-broker. With a fierce appetite for food and
drink, when all other appetite is gone, all other appetite gone except
the insatiable increasing appetite of vanity; rolling on two wide
legs, rolling in motorcars, rolling toward a diabetic end in a seaside
watering place."

"Just now you saw that bright flame burning itself out," said Appleplex,
"now you see it guttering thickly, wh