ny costume ball he would have made an excellent Bacchus or
Pan. He appeared to have the free, easy and gracious manner of those who
have known much of life and have achieved, in part at least, their
desires. He smiled, wished to know if I had met all the guests, hoped
that the sideboard had not escaped me, that I had enjoyed the singing.
Would I come some evening when there was no crowd--or, better yet, dine
with him and my friend de Shay, whose personality appeared to be about
as agreeable to him as his own. He was sorry he could not give me more
attention now.

Interestingly enough, and from the first, I was impressed with this man;
not because of his wealth (I knew richer men) but because of a something
about him which suggested dreams, romance, a kind of sense or love of
splendor and grandeur which one does not often encounter among the
really wealthy. Those cracked shoes were in my mind, I suppose. He
seemed to live among great things, but in no niggardly, parsimonious or
care-taking way. Here was ease, largess, a kind of lavishness which was
not ostentation but which seemed rather to say, "What are the minute
expenses of living and pleasuring as contrasted with the profits of
skill in the world outside?" He suggested the huge and Aladdin-like
adventures with which so many of the great financiers of the day, the
true tigers of Wall Street, were connected.

It was not long thereafter that I was once more invited, this time to a
much more lavish affair and something much more sybaritic in its tone,
although I was really not conscious of what it was to be like when I
went there. It began at twelve midnight, and to this day it glitters in
my mind as among the few really barbaric and exotic things that I have
ever witnessed. Not that the trappings or hangings or setting were so
outre or amazing as that the atmosphere of the thing itself was relaxed,
bubbling, pagan. There were so many daring and seeking people there. The
thing sang and was talked of for months after--in whispers! The gayety!
The abandon! The sheer intoxication, mental and physical! I never saw
more daring costumes, so many really beautiful women (glitteringly so)
in one place at one time, wonderful specimens of exotic and in the main
fleshy or sensuous femininity. There was, among other things, as I
recall, a large nickeled ice-tray on wheels packed with unopened bottles
of champagne, and you had but to lift a hand or wink an eye to have
another opened