" he said. "Always hiding things and
finding them."

"_Hic jacet_ Bambi, along with the other self-important, modern
institutions," she sighed humbly.

They rattled across the Circle and up Broadway. Bambi was silent, bored
with its stupidity. It was not until they turned on to Riverside Drive
that her enthusiasm bubbled up again.

"Don't you love rivers?" she exclaimed, as the Hudson sparkled at them
in the sun.

"I've never known any," he replied.

"Oh, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Jocelyn," she said, instantly. "I thought, of
course, you had met."

"You absurdity!" laughed Jarvis. "What is it that you love about
rivers?"

"Oh, their subtlety, I suppose. They look and act so aimless, and they
are going somewhere all the time. They are lazy and useful and--wet. I
like them."

"Is there anything in the universe you don't like?" Jarvis inquired.

"Yes, but I can't think what it is just now," she answered, and sang
"Ships of mine are floating--will they all come home?" so zestfully that
an old gentleman in the front seat turned, with a smiling "I hope so,
my dear!"

She nodded back at him gayly, to Jarvis's annoyance. As they approached
Grant's Tomb, she glanced at him suspiciously. When they got safely by,
she sighed with content.

"If you had said anything bromidic about Grant's Tomb, Jarvis Jocelyn, I
should have thrown myself off the top of the stage to certain death."

"At times you underestimate me," he replied.

At Claremont, Bambi ordered a most enticing repast, and they were very
gay. Everybody seemed gay, too. The sun shone, the early spring air was
soft, and a certain gala "stolen sweets" air of Claremont made it seem
their most intimate meal.

Everybody smiled at Bambi and she smiled back.

"Nice sort of hookey place, isn't it?" she commented.

"Do you know the man at the next table?"

"Which one?"

"The fat one, who is staring so."

"Oh, no. I thought you meant the one who lifts his glass to me every
time he drinks."

Jarvis pushed back his chair furiously.

"I will smash his head," he said, rising.

"Jarvis! Sit down! You silly thing! He's only in fun. It's the spirit of
the place."

"I won't have you toasted by strange men," he thundered.

"All right. I'll make a face at him next time," she said, soothingly;
but somewhere, down in the depths of her being, where her cave ancestor
lurked, she was pleased. As they finished their coffee, Bambi picked up
the check, which the waiter laid besi