ve them.

"Mrs. Shiffney has just come," he said. "Paul has been dining."

"And--the other?" murmured Charmian, with a hushed air of awed
expectation which was not free from a hint of mockery.

Mrs. Mansfield sent her a glance of half-humorous rebuke.

"Claude Heath," answered Elliot.

"How wonderful he is."

"Charmian, don't be tiresome!" observed her mother, as they went toward
the fire.

The two men got up, and Charmian had an impression of height, of a bony
slimness that was almost cadaverous, of irregular features, rather high
cheek-bones, brown, very short hair, and large, enthusiastic and
observant eyes that glanced almost piercingly at her, and quickly looked
away.

Mrs. Shiffney remained in her armchair, moved her shoulders, and said in
a rather deep, but not disagreeable voice:

"Mr. Heath and I are hearing all about 'Marella.' It builds you up if
you are a skeleton and pulls you down if you are enormous, as I am. It
makes you sleep if you suffer from insomnia, and if you have the
sleeping sickness it wakes you up. Dr. Curling has patented it, and
feeds his patients on nothing else. Delia is living entirely on it, and
is to emerge looking seventeen and a female Sandow. Mr. Heath is longing
to try it."

She had held out a powerful hand to the new arrivals, and now turned
toward the composer, who stood waiting to be introduced.

"Oh, but no, please!" said Heath, speaking quickly and almost anxiously,
with a certain naivete that was attractive, but that did not suggest
simplicity, but rather great sensitiveness of mind. "I never take quack
medicines or foods. I have no need to. And I think they're all invented
to humbug us."

Max Elliot took him by the arm.

"I want to introduce you to a dear friend of mine, Mrs. Mansfield."

He paused and added:

"Mr. Claude Heath--Miss Mansfield."

Paul Lane began talking to Charmian when the two handshakes--Heath had
shaken hands quickly--were over. She looked across the room, and saw her
mother in conversation with the composer. And she knew immediately that
he had conceived a strong liking for her mother. It seemed to her in
that moment as if his liking for her mother might prevent him from
liking her, and, she did not know why, she was aware of a faint
sensation of hostility toward him. Yet usually the fact that a man
admired, or was fond of, Mrs. Mansfield predisposed Charmian in his
favor.

Perhaps to-night she was in a tiresome mood, as her mother