plied. "I don't know why I should be, in
a fur coat. But I'll be warm soon enough, now."

A man in blue livery hurried toward them across the sidewalk, helping
them to alight. And Ditmar, after driving the car a few paces beyond
the entrance, led her through the revolving doors into a long corridor,
paved with marble and lighted by bulbs glowing from the ceiling, where
benches were set against the wall, overspread by the leaves of potted
plants set in the intervals between them.

"Sit down a moment," he said to her. "I must telephone to have somebody
take that car, or it'll stay there the rest of the winter."

She sat down on one of the benches. The soft light, the warmth, the
exotic odour of the plants, the well-dressed people who trod softly the
strip of carpet set on the marble with the air of being at home--all
contributed to an excitement, intense yet benumbing. She could not
think. She didn't want to think--only to feel, to enjoy, to wring the
utmost flavour of enchantment from these new surroundings; and her
face wore the expression of one in a dream. Presently she saw Ditmar
returning followed by a boy in a blue uniform.

"All right," he said. At the end of the corridor was an elevator in
which they were shot to one of the upper floors; and the boy, inserting
a key in a heavy mahogany door, revealed a sitting-room. Between its
windows was a table covered with a long, white cloth reaching to the
floor, on which, amidst the silverware and glass, was set a tall vase
filled with dusky roses. Janet, drawing in a deep breath of their
fragrance, glanced around the room. The hangings, the wall-paper, the
carpet, the velvet upholstery of the mahogany chairs, of the wide lounge
in the corner were of a deep and restful green; the marble mantelpiece,
with its English coal grate, was copied--had she known it--from a
mansion of the Georgian period. The hands of a delicate Georgian clock
pointed to one. And in the large mirror behind the clock she beheld an
image she supposed, dreamily, to be herself. The bell boy was taking off
her coat, which he hung, with Ditmar's, on a rack in a corner.

"Shall I light the fire, sir?" he asked.

"Sure," said Ditmar. "And tell them to hurry up with lunch."

The boy withdrew, closing the door silently behind him.

"We're going to have lunch here!" Janet exclaimed.

"Why not? I thought it would be nicer than a public dining-room, and
when I got up this morning and saw what the weathe