Now Reno is interesting."

She spent the better part of an hour describing the divorcees and
their adventures.

"Well, I'm off for home. I think I shall entertain the Red Cross
committee first of all. It's only right, I believe"--the dove eyes
very serious--"they've been under such terrible strains. I'm going to
send a large bundle of clothes for the Armenian Relief, too. Oh,
aunty, the whole world seems under a cloud, doesn't it? But I met the
funniest woman in Pasadena; she actually teed her golf ball on a
valuable Swiss watch her husband had given her! She said her only
thrills in life came from making her husband cross."

"Was he--when he found it out?"

"No; she was dreadfully disappointed. He called her a naughty child
and bought her another!"

When Beatrice reached the apartment she found Steve standing on the
steps looking anxiously up and down the street.

"What's happened?" he asked, half lifting her out of the car.

"Don't! People will see us. I was telling aunty about Reno. Oh, it's
so good to be here!" as she came inside her own door. "I hope people
will let me alone the rest of the day. I'm just a wreck." She found a
box of chocolates and began to eat them.

"A charming-looking wreck, I'll say." He stooped to kiss her.

The rose-coloured glasses were still attached to Steve's naturally
keen eyes. Like many persons he knew a multitude of facts but was
quite ignorant concerning vital issues. He had spent his honeymoon in
rapt and unreal fashion. He had realized his boyhood dream of
returning to Nevada a rich and respected man with a fairy-princess
sort of wife. The deadly anaesthesia of unreality which these
get-rich-quick candidates of to-day indulge in at the outset of their
struggle still had Steve in its clutch. He had not even stirred from
out its influence. He had accomplished what he had set out to
accomplish--and he was now about to realize that there is a distinct
melancholy in the fact that everyone needs an Aladdin's window to
finish. But under the influence of the anaesthesia he had proposed to
have an everlasting good time the rest of his life, like the closing
words of a fairy tale: "And then the beautiful young princess and the
brave young prince, having slain the seven-headed monster, lived
happily ever, ever after!"

With this viewpoint, emphasized by the natural conceit of youth, Steve
had passed his holiday with the Gorgeous Girl.

"What did you want, darling?" he urged.