very wise woman who,
being beautiful, can keep her mouth shut.

"Grace, you and I are now at the door of the church. Our wedding will be
positively a national event. Have you read the papers? Did you see what
I have undertaken to do for your sake?"

She turned away her head. But she heard him say, with the calmness of a
man who is sure of himself, and therefore to be respected:

"I am cool again. You may turn your head this way."

Her foot was tap-tapping the polar-bear skin eighty-four times to the
minute. She was trying to find a way of getting rid of him once for all.
She did not desire more sensational newspaper articles, and she realized
that she must be more than careful if she was not to supply the material
for them. She was clever enough to realize that this was not a man to be
shooed away, chickenwise. What had seemed so easy to do was in truth an
appalling problem.

"Listen, Grace. For your sake I gave to New York free sandwiches."

She sniffed before she could help it.

"You are right," he admitted, "even if it made you famous"--she was
unmoved--"and me rich!"

She started slightly. She had never thought of the business end of his
crusade. The motive is everything, in love as in murder.

"You are right," he pursued. "But, really, I am not bragging about it.
But now I'm going to give free dinners. Millions are affected-- I mean
millions of dollars, not people. But I must have your help. Even your
da--

"Sir!" began the loyal daughter, angrily.

"_Dad_, I was going to say, not _damn_, as you naturally assumed," he
explained, with dignity. "Even dad is on the Mammoth Hunger Feast
Commission. I put him on. When he sees I got the other bank presidents
he'll stay on. But I'll tell you why I came to see you--"

"Uninvited," she frowned.

"Of course. I haven't asked for the latch-key. By the way, is this house
big enough for the wedding reception?" he pondered, anxiously.

"It is--for mine," she said, pointedly. Then she wondered why she didn't
order him away. The reason was that she couldn't. He wasn't that kind of
man!

"That's good," he exclaimed with relief. "Well, I want you to sell
tickets. You read about the tickets for the Mammoth Hunger Feast?"

"No! And I don't wish to know anything about it."

"Quite so," he said, approvingly. "That being the case, you know all
about it. The tickets are to be sold by the one hundred perfectly
beautiful girls in New York. You head the list."

She turn