of the ornament described in
his advertisement, namely a silver butterfly, would be there dining alone
between the hours of eight and nine and would thus be able to receive her
property in person.

With a vague feeling of disappointment through all his elation, Hayden
turned the note over in his hand. At the head of the page was embossed a
silver butterfly, but beyond this clue there was nothing to indicate the
lady's identity; no name, no address. Again he read the brief words
written in a clear, upright hand, which so plainly showed strength of
character and unusual self-control, but gained no new light.

What an odd happening! He felt indefinably chilled. Why this appointment
for a meeting at one of the large hotels? Curious. Why this mystery,
anyway, he thought irritably; why this excess of mystery? And yet, after
all, he was forced to confess to his inmost soul that, mystery though it
was, he did not find it any the less delightful for that, rather the more
so.

He had never known so slow a day. The minutes lagged unaccountably, the
hours crawled forward at the most snail-like pace, and his impatience at
this was tempered to a satirical amusement by the fact that the entire
world of his friends seemed banded together in a conspiracy to engage his
society for that particular evening.

He had, as night drew on, a breathless and excited sense of eluding and
escaping them, and dressed with the emotions of the criminal who realizes
that the sleuths are hard upon his trail. It is unnecessary to say that
he was early at the Gildersleeve, and managed to secure a table which
commanded a view of the entire room. He had an hour and a half before
eight o'clock, and he put as much of it in as possible in ordering a
carefully chosen dinner, taking an incredible time over it, for, as the
fever of his anticipation ran high, his manner became the more cool and
leisurely, a temperamental trait of his.

He ate his soup as slowly as possible, and glanced about at the tables
now rapidly filling up with all the laughing groups of men and women who
would be going on to the theater and the opera a little later. The music
was charmingly subdued; a whiff of fragrance from the flowers on his
table reached him. He liked the atmosphere of this hotel, quiet, restful,
and handsome after a restrained and sober fashion; and then, all at once,
the surroundings, the groups at the tables, the waiters passing to and
fro, the appealing music, the