found the young creature
again he would befriend her, if she were still in need of a friend, and
take the consequences. He was not so irresistible, he told himself, as
to be necessarily dangerous to the peace of mind of all the women of his
acquaintance. He had acted the part of a prig and he was well punished
for it.

Noel had altered in some ways since his former return from Europe. For
one thing his appearance had changed. He had now a thick, close-trimmed
beard, which made him look older and graver. There were some premature
gray hairs, also, in his close-cropped hair.

The weather was very hot, and his mother and sisters had gone at once to
their country house, but Noel lingered in town, although, socially, it
was almost deserted.

One afternoon of a very hot day, when the neighborhoods of soda
fountains alone were populous, and men walked about the streets
with umbrellas in one hand and palm-leaf fans in the other, with
coats open, hats pushed back and frequent manipulation of their
pocket-handkerchiefs, Noel, whose sense of propriety admitted of none
of these mitigations of the heat, was standing at a down-town crossing,
waiting for a car. He was going to his club to refresh himself with a
bath, order a dinner with plenty of ice accompanying it, and then take
a drive in the park behind a horse warranted to make a breeze. It was
getting intolerable in town, and he had just determined to leave it
to-morrow.

As he stood waiting he observed, on the opposite corner, a woman
carrying a baby. He had a good heart and it troubled him to see that
the child seemed ill. He was struck, too, with the fact that the woman,
although closely veiled, had something in her figure and bearing, as
well as her dress, which made her present position seem in some way
incongruous. His practised eye perceived that her figure was good,
and his instinct told him that she was a lady. He looked at her so
attentively that his car passed without his seeing it until it was too
far to hail. As another car, going the opposite way, came along and
stopped, the woman got on it, and a resemblance, which some fleeting
movement or position suggested to his mind, struck him so powerfully
that almost without knowing what he was doing he found himself running
to overtake the car, which had started on. It was not difficult to do,
and once having undertaken it, it would have looked silly to stop, so he
swung himself on to the platform. The car was full a