Her eyes, as she turned them full upon me, were the

saddest, loveliest eyes I had ever seen, and even in that

brilliant, crowded room I felt their spell. They were

fixed in my memory indelibly,-mournful, dreamy and

wistful. In my absorption I forgot Larry.

"You're taking unfair advantage," he observed quietly.

"Friends of yours?"

"The big chap in the lead is my friend Pickering,"

I answered; and Larry turned his head slightly.

"Yes, I supposed you weren't looking at the women,"

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he observed dryly. "I'm sorry I couldn't see the object

of your interest. Bah! these men!"

I laughed carelessly enough, but I was already summoning

from my memory the grave face of the girl in

black,-her mournful eyes, the glint of gold in her hair.

Pickering was certainly finding the pleasant places in

this vale of tears, and I felt my heart hot against him.

It hurts, this seeing a man you have never liked succeeding

where you have failed!

"Why didn't you present me? I'd like to make the

acquaintance of a few representative Americans,-I

may need them to go bail for me."

"Pickering didn't see me, for one thing; and for

another he wouldn't go bail for you or me if he did.

He isn't built that way."

Larry smiled quizzically.

"You needn't explain further. The sight of the lady

has shaken you. She reminds me of Tennyson: " 'The star-like sorrows of immortal eyes-' and the rest of it ought to be a solemn warning to you,

-many 'drew swords and died,' and calamity followed

in her train. Bah! these women! I thought you were

past all that!"

[Illustration: She turned carelessly toward me, and our eyes met for an instant.] "I don't know why a man should be past it at twenty-seven!

Besides, Pickering's friends are strangers to me.

But what became of that Irish colleen you used to

moon over? Her distinguishing feature, as I remember

her photograph, was a short upper lip. You used

to force her upon me frequently when we were in

Africa."

"Humph! When I got back to Dublin I found that

she had married a brewer's son,-think of it!"

"Put not your faith in a short upper lip! Her face

never inspired any confidence in me."

"That will do, thank you. I'll have a bit more of that

mayonnaise if the waiter isn't dead. I think you said

your grandfather died in June. A letter advising you

of the fact reached you at Naples in October. Has it

occurred to you that there was quite an interim there?

What, may I ask, was the executor doing all that time?

You may be sure he was taking advantage of the opportunity

to look for the red, red gold. I suppose you

didn't give him a sound drubbing for not keeping the

cables hot with inquiries for you?"




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