chance!"

Helene's white fingers crushed the orchid which she was pinning to the
bosom of her gown. Her intent gaze met the mask of Shirley's ingenuous
smile, reading in his telltale eyes a message which needed no court
interpreter! Quickly she turned to her mirror to put the finishing
touches to her coiffure, the golden curls so alluringly wilful.

"Your flattery, sir, is very cruel. Beware! I may take it seriously.
What would happen if my verdant heart were to fall a victim to the
cunning wiles of the voice? Remember, I have only met two men, since I
came to America, yesterday. And they are both pronounced woman-haters.
I will take you at your word, about Mr. Reginald Warren, and loosen my
blandishments to the best of my rustic ability."

A wayward twinkle in her eyes should have warned Shirley that she was
planning a little mischief. But, he was too preoccupied in finding the
real front of her baffling street cloak to observe it. They left for
the tearoom, while Helene still laughed to herself over certain subtle
possibilities which she saw in the situation.

CHAPTER XIV. A PILGRIMAGE INTO FRIVOLITY

Rather early, again, for the usual throng, they were able to choose
their position to their liking: to-day, it was in the center of the big
room, close by the space cleared for the dancing. Gradually the tables
were occupied, apparently by the identical people of the afternoon
before, so marked is the peculiar character of the dance-mad
individuality. To-day he varied his menu with a mild order of
cocktails--for now he was not emulating the Epicurean record of the
bibulous Grimsby. They observed with amusement the weird contortions,
seldom graced by a vestige of rhythm or beauty, with which the intent
dancers spun and zigzagged.

"Considering how much money they pay to learn these steps from
dancing-masters, there is unusually small value in the market, Miss
Marigold. I resigned myself to the approach of the sunset years, and
became a voluntary exile in the garden of the wallflowers, when society
dancing became mathematical."

"I don't understand?"

"Once it was possible to chat, to smile, to woo or to silently enjoy
the music and the measures of the dance in company with a sympathetic
partner. Now, however, since the triumph of the 'New Mode,' one must
count 'one-two-three,' and one's partner is more captious than a
schoolmarm! What puzzles me is the need for new steps, to be learned
from expensive t