zle, and to him one evening in the limelight
made up for many dark ones.

Chandler protracted his walk until the Forties began to intersect the
great and glittering primrose way, for the evening was yet young, and
when one is of the _beau monde_ only one day in seventy, one loves
to protract the pleasure. Eyes bright, sinister, curious, admiring,
provocative, alluring were bent upon him, for his garb and air
proclaimed him a devotee to the hour of solace and pleasure.

At a certain corner he came to a standstill, proposing to himself the
question of turning back toward the showy and fashionable restaurant in
which he usually dined on the evenings of his especial luxury. Just then
a girl scuddled lightly around the corner, slipped on a patch of icy
snow and fell plump upon the sidewalk.

Chandler assisted her to her feet with instant and solicitous courtesy.
The girl hobbled to the wall of the building, leaned against it, and
thanked him demurely.

"I think my ankle is strained," she said. "It twisted when I fell."

"Does it pain you much?" inquired Chandler.

"Only when I rest my weight upon it. I think I will be able to walk in
a minute or two."

"If I can be of any further service," suggested the young man, "I will
call a cab, or--"

"Thank you," said the girl, softly but heartily. "I am sure you need not
trouble yourself any further. It was so awkward of me. And my shoe heels
are horridly common-sense; I can't blame them at all."

Chandler looked at the girl and found her swiftly drawing his interest.
She was pretty in a refined way; and her eye was both merry and kind.
She was inexpensively clothed in a plain black dress that suggested a
sort of uniform such as shop girls wear. Her glossy dark-brown hair
showed its coils beneath a cheap hat of black straw whose only ornament
was a velvet ribbon and bow. She could have posed as a model for the
self-respecting working girl of the best type.

A sudden idea came into the head of the young architect. He would ask
this girl to dine with him. Here was the element that his splendid but
solitary periodic feasts had lacked. His brief season of elegant luxury
would be doubly enjoyable if he could add to it a lady's society. This
girl was a lady, he was sure--her manner and speech settled that. And in
spite of her extremely plain attire he felt that he would be pleased to
sit at table with her.

These thoughts passed swiftly through his mind, and he decided to
ask