rn bad place."

"You're lovely!" she said merrily. "But when in Rome, do as Rome does. Do
you go to dinner in that rig-out?"

Jim felt nervously at his throat.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing. It suits you admirably. But the hotel won't like it."

"See here," he retorted, "I don't give a tinker's cuss what the hotel
likes. Anyway, it's decent, which is considerably more'n some of the
dresses I've seen. There's a gal with nothin' more'n a bit of muslin she
could fold up and put in her mouth. She's got Mother Eve beaten to a
frazzle."

They gossiped for half an hour, and then Edith (he heard a friend call her
by that name) left him and went to dinner. The next meeting happened on
the following day. Edith's company appealed to him. She certainly used a
lot of "make-up," and creams that smelt like a chemist's shop; but all New
York smelt vile to Jim, so he didn't complain.

Taking his courage in both hands, he invited her to dine with him. She
accepted with as much eagerness as maidenly modesty would permit, and Jim
went off to lunch in the best hotel in town, to take careful note of the
proper procedure of a gentleman "standing treat" to a lady. He got it off
fairly well, making notes on a sheet of paper. Then he went to his room
and rehearsed it all. He started dressing himself about five o'clock, and
had nearly got his clothes to his satisfaction by the appointed
time--seven-thirty.

The dinner was a roaring success. Conversation was feeble because all his
time was taken up in observing correct decorum. Edith sat and regarded him
with curious eyes. She wondered, for good reasons, what the emotions of
such a man might be. Behind those quiet, simple eyes of his there
occasionally flashed something that made her afraid--dreadfully afraid.
She had not wasted time that day. She knew this big, uncultured fellow was
James Conlan, late of Topeka Mine--a millionaire.

Jim breathed a huge sigh of relief when they left the dining-hall and
walked through the lounge into the wide balcony. He was standing looking
out over the street when he noticed her totter and clutch a chair.

"What's wrong?" he gasped.

"I--I feel faint. I----"

She closed her eyes. Here was a situation that had not been rehearsed by
Jim. He wondered whether he ought to ring the fire alarm or call the
police. Edith solved the problem.

"If--you will assist me--to the elevator----"

He had never thought of that. He grabbed her arm and helped her