If O'Day were aware of the changes of public opinion going on around
him, there was nothing in either his manner or in his speech to show it.
When they complimented him on the way in which he had utilized Otto's
old stock, producing so wonderful an interior, he would remark quietly
that it was nothing to his credit. He had always loved such things; that
it came natural to some people to put things to rights, and that any one
could have done as much. It was only when some one alluded to Masie that
his face would light up. "Yes, charming, was she not? Such a wonderful
little lady, and so good!"

That which did please him--please him immensely--was the outcome of a
visit made some days after the party by old Nat Ganger.

"Regular Aladdin lamp," Nat shouted, slamming Kling's door behind
him. "One rub, bang goes the rubbish, and up comes an Oriental palace.
Another rub and little devils swarm over the walls and ceilings and
begin hanging up stuffs and lamps. Another rub, and before you can wink
your eye, out steps a little princess, a million times prettier than any
Cinderella that ever lived. Wonderful! WONDERFUL!

"Where is the darling child anyway. Can't I see her? I got away from
Sam, telling him I was going to look up another frame for one of my
pictures. Here it is. All a lie, every bit of it. It's Sam's picture.
Not mine. I wrapped it up so he wouldn't know, but I came to see that
darling child all the same, for I've got a surprise for her. But first I
want you to see this picture. Here, wait until I untie this string.
It's one of Sam's Hudson Rivery things. Palisades and a steamboat in the
foreground, and an afternoon sky. Easy dodge, don't you see? Yellow sky
and purple hill, and short streak for the steamboat and its wake, and a
smear of white steam straggling behind. Sam does 'em as well as anybody.
Sometimes he puts in a pile or two in the foreground for a broken dock
and a rowboat with a lone fisherman squatting on the hind seat. Then
he asks five dollars more. Always get more you know for figures in a
landscape."

He had unwrapped the canvas by this time, and was holding it to the
light of the window that Felix might see it better.

Felix studied it carefully, even to the cramped signature in the corner,
"Samuel Dogger, A. N. A."; and with an appreciative smile said: "Very
good, I should say. Yes, very good."

"Good! It's really very bad, and you know it. So do I. But you're too
much of a gentleman to s