e went away, and the young man waited minute after minute, pacing back
and forth the length of the room, cutting nervous circles around the big
office chairs, wiping his palms with his handkerchief and wondering if
he had come on a fool's errand or whether--

He heard a rustle of soft garments, and turned. There in the doorway
stood a feminine full moon--an elliptical young woman, with half of her
pink and corpulent face showing above a gauzy veil, her two chubby hands
clasped in front of her, the whole attitude one of massive shyness.

"I--I beg pardon," he said, staring at her in wonder.

She tried to speak, but was too much flustered. He saw that she was
smiling behind the veil, and then she came toward him, holding out her
hand. He took the hand, which felt almost squashy, and said:

"I am very glad to meet you."

Then there was a pause.

"Won't you be seated?" he asked.

She sank into one of the leather chairs and looked up at him with a
little simper, and there was another pause.

"I--I never have seen you before, have I?" she asked, with a secretive
attempt to take a good look at him.

"You can search me," he replied, staring at her, as if fascinated by her
wealth of figure. "If I had seen you before, I have a remote suspicion
that I should remember you. I don't think it would be easy to forget
you."

"You flatter me," she said softly.

"Do I? Well, I meant every word of it. Will you pardon me for being a
wee bit personal? Are there many young ladies in these parts that are
as--as--corpulent, or fat, or whatever you want to call it--that is, are
you any plumper than the average?"

"I have been told that I am."

"Once more pardon me, but have you done anything for it?"

"For what?" she asked, considerably surprised.

"I wouldn't have mentioned it, only I think I can give you some good
tips. I had a Cousin Flora who was troubled the same way. About the time
she went to Smith College she got kind of careless with herself, used to
eat a lot of candy and never take any exercise, and she got to be an
awful looking thing. If you'll cut out the starchy foods and drink
nothing but Kissingen, and begin skipping the rope every day, you'll be
surprised how much of that you'll take off in a little while. At first
you won't be able to skip more than twenty-five or fifty times a day,
but you keep at it and in a month you can do your five hundred. Put on
plenty of flannels and wear a sweater. And I'll show you