ed, and he never once regretted the
selection.

When she came into the office the following Monday, Duffield was
present; they were going over a survey together. After taking a good
look at her he said: "Well, she'll not waste much time in flirtations.
This office will give her the go-by." She weighed about ninety pounds,
was twenty years old and had a sallow, scabby complexion. She evidently
thought that her face called for an apology, and stated that she had
just recovered from a spell of sickness, and her father thought the
mountain air might do her good.

Her hair, however, was of remarkably fine texture and color, of a light
chestnut, giving forth flashes of gold. She was of slight though good
figure, was quick in catching a suggestion and endowed with considerable
business sagacity.

As her father had expected, the mountain air did her good. Within three
months her complexion cleared up and she took on several pounds in
weight; color came into her lips and a snappy expression into her
formerly dull eyes. Duffield, who had been so severe in his criticism of
her appearance, began to take notice and to extend invitations to go
driving, or to lunch, or for a walk, but she invariably answered that
she could only go out with Jewish boys.

She must have been with Cornwall a year before he realized how she had
improved in appearance. When sitting one day where the light and angle
brought out the perfect profile of her features and the golden sheen of
her hair, he first became aware that she was a beautiful woman, with as
clear-cut and classic a face as the best cameo might exhibit.

She was so smilingly cheerful and sweet-tempered that the boys of the
office gave her the name of "Cricket," and so competent that suggestions
and directions were superfluous in the performance of her efficient
work.

Slowly there crept into Cornwall's heart a tender feeling for the girl
and when, several months later, Leo Cohen, the shoe merchant, began
calling upon her and playing the devoted, and he saw how she responded
to his attentions, even when walking with him, taking side steps to look
up into his face with eyes of love and happiness, Cornwall suffered many
jealous pangs.

In a way that women have, not known to men, she found out that Cornwall
was a devoted and consistent admirer. While she was fond of him in a
companionable way, the shoe merchant was too strongly entrenched in her
heart to leave the least room for another.