nds,
shillings, and pence."

"Do you earn a hundred in twelve months?"

"Wish I did," confessed Madame's husband. "In that case, I shouldn't
have to be beholden to other people."

"How would you manage if you weren't married?"

He looked at the mantelpiece, and inquired of his wife if the clock was
indicating the correct time. Receiving the answer, Madame's husband
became alarmed, declaring it a fortunate thing that he had remembered a
highly important appointment. It represented, he said, the chance of a
lifetime, and to miss it would be nothing short of madness; he bade
Miss Higham good evening in a curt way, and Madame accompanied him to
the front door. There they had a spirited discussion. Madame
considered an allowance of half a crown would be ample; he said, in
going, that his wife was a mean, miserable cat.

"I'm afraid, my dear, you shunted him off," remarked Madame, coming
back to the studio. "You don't seem to know how to manage men, do you?"

"Had my suspicions of that before now."

"Of course, they're very trying but"--helplessly--"I don't know.
Sometimes I wish I'd kept single, and then again at other times, when
I've had a hard day of it, I feel glad I'm not coming home to empty
rooms. Taking the rough with the smooth, I suppose most women think
that any husband is better than no husband at all."

"Rather than get hold of one who didn't earn his living," declared
Gertie with vehemence, "I'd keep single all my life."

"He did nearly sell a picture," argued the other, "once!"

They took easy-chairs, and Madame found a box of chocolates. Mr.
Jacks, it appeared, was not Madame's first love. Mr. Jacks's
predecessor had been ordered out years ago to take part in a war that
improved the receipts entered up in Hilbert's books; on the debit side,
the loss of a good sweetheart had to be placed. Madame dried her eyes,
and in less than half a minute the two were on the subject which
absorbed their principal interests. Price of gold thread, difficulty
with one of the home workers, questions of aiguillettes, sword belts,
sashes, grenades; hopes that the King would shortly issue a new order
concerning officers' uniforms. Madame said that, nowadays, profits
were cut very close; she could remember, in her father's time, when, if
there was not a balance at the end of the year of over a thousand
pounds, serious anxiety ensued. Madame brought out a large album to
show pictures of gorgeous apparel that