He had just been recognized by a man of apparently equal importance and
distinction, who had quietly and unconsciously taken a seat by his
side, and the recognition appeared equally unexpected and awkward.
The new-comer was the older and more decorous-looking, with an added
formality of manner and self-assertion that did not, however, conceal
a certain habitual shrewdness of eye and lip. He wore a full beard,
but the absence of a moustache left the upper half of his handsome and
rather satirical mouth uncovered. His dress was less pronounced than his
companion's, but of a type of older and more established gentility.

"I was a little late coming from the office to-night," said the younger
man, with an embarrassed laugh, "and I thought I'd drop in here on my
way home. Pretty rough outside, ain't it?"

"Yes, it's raining and blowing; so I thought I wouldn't go up to the
plaza for a cab, but wait here for the first one that dropped a fare at
the door, and take it on to the hotel."

"Hold on, and I'll go with you," said the young man carelessly. "I say,
Brimmer," he added, after a pause, with a sudden assumption of larger
gayety, "there's nothing mean about Belle Montgomery, eh? She's a
whole team and the little dog under the wagon, ain't she? Deuced pretty
woman!--no make-up there, eh?"

"She certainly is a fine woman," said Brimmer gravely, borrowing his
companion's lorgnette. "By the way, Markham, do you usually keep an
opera-glass in your office in case of an emergency like this?"

"I reckon it was forgotten in my overcoat pocket," said Markham, with an
embarrassed smile.

"Left over from the last time," said Brimmer, rising from his seat.
"Well, I'm going now--I suppose I'll have to try the plaza."

"Hold on a moment. She's coming on now--there she is!" He stopped, his
anxious eyes fixed upon the stage. Brimmer turned at the same moment in
no less interested absorption. A quick hush ran through the theatre;
the men bent eagerly forward as the Queen of Olympus swept down to the
footlights, and, with a ravishing smile, seemed to envelop the whole
theatre in a gracious caress.

"You know, 'pon my word, Brimmer, she's a very superior woman," gasped
Markham excitedly, when the goddess had temporarily withdrawn. "These
fellows here," he said, indicating the audience contemptuously, "don't
know her,--think she's all that sort of thing, you know,--and come here
just to LOOK at her. But she's very accomplished--in f