revious date the lady has accepted.

"I have heard of the place," says she. "I am quite willing to endure an
evening there. I am wondering, though, if I should not be rather
conspicuous. You see, I brought with me none but simple gowns such as
this, and perhaps the contrast----"

"You'd be about as prominent at the Maxixe in that outfit," says I, "as
a one-legged albino at a coon cakewalk. Besides, they don't let you in
there unless you're in full evenin'. Course, there's other joints
where----"

"No," says she. "Let it be the Maison Maxixe, if that is the worst. And
for once too I may as well submit myself to the horrors of the new
fashions. I will order a costume to-day, and I can be ready for my
plunge into Gotham vanities by--let me see--we will say Saturday night.
I am at the Lady Louise. You may call for me there about eight. Good-by.
Don't be late, Gentlemen." And with that she does the abrupt flit,
leavin' us gawpin' at each other stupid.

"Much obliged, Steele," says I, "for ringin' me in on this nutty reunion
of yours. Say, J. B., you got a head like a tack, you have! Have a
heart, can't you?"

"My dear Shorty," says he, "permit me to point out that it was you who
suggested taking her to----"

"Because you was sittin' there like a gump," says I. "Only helpin' you
out, that's all. And I'm goin' to look nice, ain't I, trailin' into a
place like that with you and this--say, just where does the lady fit
into your past, anyway? Never heard you mention her, did I?"

"Naturally not," says he. "One doesn't boast of having been thrown
over."

"Eh?" says I. "You was engaged--to _her_?"

He nods and gazes sentimental at the ceilin'. "My one genuine romance,"
says he. "I suppose she wasn't really the radiant beauty I imagined; but
she was charming, vivacious, fascinating. It was a bad case of love at
first sight. At eleven o'clock that evening, I remember, I took her in
to supper. At twelve I was leading her into a palm-sheltered nook, and
the next thing I knew I had taken her in my arms and--well, the usual
thing. No one could have made a more complete ass of himself. She should
have boxed my ears. She didn't. The engagement lasted all of one week."

"Then you recovered from the attack?" says I.

"No," says he. "She had discovered another, several others. She told me
quite casually that she really hadn't meant it; and wasn't I, after all,
rather a wild young man? I assured her that if I wasn't wild I should