uously from her superior height when he asked her to dance,--if
only one of them had turned her back upon him, then he would have grasped
the unwelcome truth about himself. But, now that he thought of it, not one
of them had ever turned a deaf ear to his cajoleries, not one had failed
to respond to his blandishments, not one had been sincere enough to frown
upon him when he tried to be witty. And that brought him to another
sickening standstill: was he as bright and clever and witty as people made
him out to be? Wasn't he a dreadful bore, a blithering ass, after all? He
felt himself turning cold to the marrow as he thought of the real value
that people placed upon him. He even tried to recall a single thing that
he had ever said that he could now, in sober judgment, regard as bright or
even fairly clever. He couldn't, so then, after all, it was quite clear
that he was tolerated because he had nothing but money.

Just as he was about to retire from his club where he had gone for solace,
an inspiration was born. It sent him forthwith to Anne Tresslyn's home,
dogged, determined and manfully disillusioned.

"Miss Tresslyn is very busy, Mr. Dodge," said Rawson, "but she says she
will see you, sir, if you will wait a few moments."

"I'll wait," said Simmy, and sat down.

He had come to the remarkable conclusion that as long as some one had to
marry him for his money it might as well be Anne. He was fond of her and
he could at least spare her the ignominy and horror of being wedded to old
Templeton Thorpe. With his friend Braden admittedly out of the running,
there was no just cause why he should not at least have a try at saving
Anne. She might jump at the chance. He was already blaming himself for not
having recognised her peril, her dire necessity, long before this. And
since he had reached the dismal conclusion that no one could possibly love
him, it would be the sensible thing on his part to at least marry some one
whom he loved, thereby securing, in a way, half of a bargain when he might
otherwise have to put up with nothing at all. At any rate, he would be
doing Anne a good turn by marrying her, and it was reasonably certain that
she would not bring him any more unhappiness than any other woman who
might accept him.

As he sat there waiting for her he began to classify his financial
holdings, putting certain railroads and industrials into class one, others
into class two, and so on to the best of his ability to recol