y, as he left: "I hope
you'll be able to come to the party a little early to-morrow, Carl.
You know we count on you to help us."

CHAPTER XXVI

The party was on at the Cowles flat.

People came. They all set to it, having a party, being lively and gay,
whether they wanted to or not. They all talked at once, and had
delicious shocks over the girl from London, Nebraska, who, having
moved to Washington Place, just a block or two from ever so many
artists, was now smoking a cigarette and, wearing a gown that was
black and clinging. It was no news to her that men had a tendency to
become interested in her ankles. But she still went to church and was
accepted by quite the nicest of the St. Orgul's set, to whom Gertie
had introduced her.

She and Gertie were the only thoroughly qualified representatives of
Art, but Beauty and Gallantry and Wit were common. The conspirators in
holding a party were, on the male side:

An insurance adjuster, who was a frat-brother to Carl and Ray, though
he came from Melanchthon College. A young lawyer, ever so jolly, with
a banjo. A bantling clergyman, who was spoken of with masculine
approval because he smoked a pipe and said charmingly naughty things.
Johnson of the Homes and Long Island Real Estate Company, and his
brother, of the Martinhurst Development Company. Four older men,
ranging from thin-haired to very bald, who had come with their wives
and secretly looked at their watches while they talked brightly with
one another's wives. Five young men whom Carl could not tell apart, as
they all had smooth hair and eye-glasses and smart dress-shirts and
obliging smiles and complimentary references to his aviating. He gave
up trying to remember which was which.

It was equally hard to remember which of the women Gertie knew as a
result of her girlhood visit to New York, which from their membership
in St. Orgul's Church, which from their relation to Minnesota. They
all sat in rows on couches and chairs and called him "You wicked man!"
for reasons none too clear to him. He finally fled from them and
joined the group of young men, who showed an ill-bred and disapproved
tendency to sneak off into Ray's room for a smoke. He did not,
however, escape one young woman who stood out from the _melee_--a
young woman with a personality almost as remarkable as that of the
glorious creature from London, Nebraska. This was the more or less
married young woman named Dorothy, and affectionately cal