ur own.

And then of a sudden it was all faded--gone! The breeze from the open
window stirred the ashes to the side. She dropped back with a deep sigh.

"They're gone," she breathed mournfully.

"Never mind," I said; "you've these left." And daringly I laid my hand
upon the one that clasped the rubies. And I thrilled as it lay still
beneath my own.

"Good-by, you dear old, wicked, enchanted pajamas," she said. "I don't
care--I just love you, because--" She paused.

"Because they brought us together?" By Jove, I didn't know I had said
it, till it came out!

An instant, and then I caught it--just a little whisper, you know:

"Yes--Dicky!"

By Jove! And then, dash it, my monocle dropped! But I let it go.

Presently she looked at the glowing rubies in her hand.

"They are from India, you know, Dicky--from Mandalay, the professor
said." And she murmured: "'On the road to Mandalay, where the old
flotilla lay'--don't you remember? I've been there, Dicky."

"By Jove!" I said. "Have you, though? Is it jolly?"

"The poet seemed to think so--" She laughed. "Do you know Kipling,
Dicky?" I tried to think, but dashed if I could remember.

I wondered if it would be a good place to take a trip to!

I hitched closer. "What does--er--this poet chap say about it? What's it
like, you know?"

She laughed. "I'm afraid it's wicked, Dicky, a good deal like the
haunted pajamas." She leaned forward, chin upon her hand again, looking
into the fading coals. "I'll tell you what he says."

Then her voice went on:

"Ship me somewhere east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there aren't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst."

"By Jove!" I said, interested.

"For the temple bells are callin', and it's there that I would be--
By the old Moulmein pagoda, lookin' lazy at the sea."

I brought my hand down on my knee.

"Oh, I say, you know--er--Frances," I exclaimed with enthusiasm, "we'll
go there for our honeymoon, by Jove! Shall we--eh?"

And then the jolly rubies rolled unheeded to the floor. And nothing
stirred but the ashes of the haunted pajamas!

And then--Oh, but Frances says that's _all_!

THE END

TITLES SELECTED FROM GROSSET & DUNLAP'S LIST

_A CERTAIN RICH MAN._ By William Allen White.

A vivid, startling portrayal of one man's financial greed, its
wide-spreading power, its action in Wall Street, and its effect on the
three women most intimately in his life.