indling the other with the same sacred flame.
She gazed with adoration at his thin, flushed face, as, illumined by the
lecture, he developed with excitement his theory of life.

[Illustration: "Over their cocoa he developed his theory of life"]

"Only think," he said, "how people wreck their lives just because they
don't know the difference between appearance and reality! Now we do know.
We're poor; but we don't care a rap, because we know, you and I, that that
doesn't matter. It's the immaterial that matters."

Spiritually he flamed.

"I wouldn't change with my boss, though he's got five thousand a year.
He's a slave--a slave to his carriage and horses, a slave to his house, a
slave to the office--"

"So are you. You work hard enough."

"I work harder than he does. But I keep myself detached."

"Some more cocoa, dearie?"

"Rather. Yes, three lumps, please. Just think what we can get out of life,
you and I, with our tiny income. We get what we put into it--and that's
something literally priceless, and we mustn't let it go. Whatever happens
we must stick to it."

"Nothing can take it away from us," said Aggie, rapt in her dream.

"No; no outside thing can. But, Aggie--we can take it from each other, if
we let ourselves get slack. Whatever we do," he said, solemnly, "we
mustn't get slack. We must keep it up."

"Yes," said Aggie, "we must keep it up."

They had pledged themselves to that.

IV

No fowler spreads his snares in sight of those innocent birds that perch
on the tree of life in paradise. As Arthur's soul (it was a vain soul)
preened its wings before her, Aggie never inquired whether the brilliance
of its plumage was its own, or merely common to all feathered things in
the pairing season. Young Arthur's soul was like a lark, singing in heaven
its delirious nuptial hymn. Aggie sat snug in her nest and marvelled at
her mate, at the mounting of his wings, the splendid and untiring ardors
of his song. Nor was she alarmed at his remarkable disappearance into the
empyrean. Lost to sight he might be, but she could count on his swift,
inevitable descent into the nest.

The nest itself was the most wonderful nest a bird ever sat in. The two
were so enthusiastic over everything that they delighted even in that
dreadful, creaking, yellow villa. Its very vices entertained them. When it
creaked they sat still and looked at each other, waiting for it to do it
again. No other house ever possessed su