hward over her steppes. . . . God! Would
he ever get her? . . . If he did not it would be because one of them
was qualifying for another incarnation.

He walked down the avenue as rapidly as possible, his hands in his
pockets, his head bent to the wind, no longer transported; forcing his
mind to dwell on the warmth of his rooms and his bed. . . . His head
ached. He'd go to the office tomorrow and write his column there.
Then think things out. How was he to win such a woman? Make her sure
of herself? Convert her doubts into a passionate certainty? She, with
her highly technical past! Make no mistakes? If he made a precipitate
ass of himself--what comparisons! . . . His warm bed . . . the
complete and personal isolation of his rooms . . . he had never given
even a tea to women . . . he gave his dinners in restaurants. . . .
How many more blocks? The snow was thicker. He couldn't even see the
arcade of Madison Square Garden, although a faint diffused radiance
high in air was no doubt the crown of lights on the Metropolitan
Tower. . . . Had he made a wrong move in bolting----?

His thoughts and counter-thoughts came to an abrupt end. At the corner
of Thirtieth Street he collided with a small figure in a fur coat and
nearly knocked it over. He was for striding on with a muttered
apology, when the girl caught him by the arm with a light laugh.

"Lee Clavering! What luck! Take me home."

He was looking down into the dark naughty little face of Janet
Oglethorpe, granddaughter of the redoubtable Jane.

"What on earth are you doing here?" he asked stupidly.

"Perhaps I'll tell you and perhaps I won't. On second thoughts don't
take me home. Take me to one of those all-night restaurants. That's
just the one thing I haven't seen, and I'm hungry."

He subtly became an uncle. "I'll do nothing of the sort. You ought to
be ashamed of yourself--alone in the streets at this hour of the night.
It must be one o'clock. I shall take you home. I suppose you have a
latch-key, but for two cents I'd ring the bell and hand you over to
your mother."

"Mother went to Florida today and dad's duck-hunting in South Carolina.
Aunt Mollie's too deaf to hear doorbells and believes anything I tell
her."

"I am astonished that your mother left you behind to your own devices."

"I wouldn't go. She's given me up--used to my devices. Besides, I've
one or two on her and she doesn't dare give me away to dad. He thinks
I'm