a
mystery to him. It was amazing how little he really knew of her. During
his journey to town, he had sat with folded arms in the corner of his
compartment, wondering whether in her own environment he would find her
easier to understand.

He asked himself that question again now, as he found himself in her
drawing-room, in a room entirely redolent of her personality. Their
meeting at the theater had told him nothing. She had gratified his
sentiment by the pleasure she had shown at his unexpected appearance,
but his understanding remained unsatisfied.

The room that he was so eagerly studying confirmed his cloudy
impressions of its owner. There was, for a woman's apartment, a curious
absence of ornamentation and knickknacks. The walls were black and
white, an idea fantastic in its way, yet carried out with extreme
lightness in the ceiling and frieze. The carpet was white; the
furniture, of which there was very little, of the French period before
the rococo type, graceful in its outline, rather heavy in build, and
covered with old-rose colored chintz. There were water-colors upon the
wall, an etching or two from a Parisian studio, and some small
black-and-white fantasies, puzzling to John, who had never even heard
the term Futurist, yet in their way satisfactory.

There was a small-sized grand piano, which seemed to have found its way
almost apologetically into a remote corner; a delightful open fireplace
with rough, white tiles, and an old-fashioned brass box, in which was
piled a little heap of sweet-smelling wood blocks. A table, drawn up to
the side of one of the easy chairs, was covered with books and
magazines, some Italian, a few English, the greater part French; and
upon a smaller one, close at hand, stood a white bowl full of pink
roses. Their odor was somehow reminiscent of Louise, curiously sweet and
wholesome--an odor which suddenly took him back to the morning when she
had come to him from under the canopy of apple-blossom.

He drew a little sigh of contentment as he rose to his feet and walked
to the window. The room charmed him. It was wonderful that he should
find it like this. His heart began to beat with pleasure even before the
opening of the door announced her presence. She came in with Sophy, who
at once seated herself by his side.

"We have been making plans," Louise declared, "for disposing of you for
the rest of the day."

John smiled happily.

"You're not sending me away, then? You're not