in it, but his whole mind seemed concentrated, in a
sort of delicious terror, upon the wonderful experience to which every
footstep brought him nearer. His magnetized fancy pictured a great
spacious parlor, such as a mansion like the Maddens' would of course
contain, and there would be a grand piano, and lace curtains, and
paintings in gold frames, and a chandelier, and velvet easy-chairs, and
he would sit in one of these, surrounded by all the luxury of the rich,
while Celia played to him. There would be servants about, he presumed,
and very likely they would recognize him, and of course they would
talk about it to Tom, Dick and Harry afterward. But he said to himself
defiantly that he didn't care.

He withdrew his arm from hers as they came upon the well-lighted main
street. He passed no one who seemed to know him. Presently they came
to the Madden place, and Celia, without waiting for the gravelled walk,
struck obliquely across the lawn. Theron, who had been lagging behind
with a certain circumspection, stepped briskly to her side now. Their
progress over the soft, close-cropped turf in the dark together, with
the scent of lilies and perfumed shrubs heavy on the night air, and
the majestic bulk of the big silent house rising among the trees before
them, gave him a thrilling sense of the glory of individual freedom.

"I feel a new man already," he declared, as they swung along on the
grass. He breathed a long sigh of content, and drew nearer, so that
their shoulders touched now and again as they walked. In a minute more
they were standing on the doorstep, and Theron heard the significant
jingle of a bunch of keys which his companion was groping for in her
elusive pocket. He was conscious of trembling a little at the sound.

It seemed that, unlike other people, the Maddens did not have their
parlor on the ground-floor, opening off the front hall. Theron stood in
the complete darkness of this hall, till Celia had lit one of several
candles which were in their hand-sticks on a sort of sideboard next the
hat-rack. She beckoned him with a gesture of her head, and he followed
her up a broad staircase, magnificent in its structural appointments
of inlaid woods, and carpeted with what to his feet felt like down. The
tiny light which his guide bore before her half revealed, as they passed
in their ascent, tall lengths of tapestry, and the dull glint of
armor and brazen discs in shadowed niches on the nearer wall. Over the
st