ver her shoulder, shook it
into place with a twist of her head. She stepped out of her skirt, and
Mrs. Cressler handed her her dressing-gown, and brought out a pair of
quilted slippers of red satin from the wardrobe.

In the grate, the fire that had been lighted just before they had come
upstairs was crackling sharply. Laura drew up an armchair and sat down
in front of it, her chin in her hand. Mrs. Cressler stretched herself
upon the bed, an arm behind her head.

"Well, Laura," she began at length, "I have some real news for you. My
dear, I believe you've made a conquest."

"I!" murmured Laura, looking around. She feigned a surprise, though she
guessed at once that Mrs. Cressler had Corthell in mind.

"That Mr. Jadwin--the one you met at the opera."

Genuinely taken aback, Laura sat upright and stared wide-eyed.

"Mr. Jadwin!" she exclaimed. "Why, we didn't have five minutes' talk.
Why, I hardly know the man. I only met him last night."

But Mrs. Cressler shook her head, closing her eyes and putting her lips
together.

"That don't make any difference, Laura. Trust me to tell when a man is
taken with a girl. My dear, you can have him as easy as that." She
snapped her fingers.

"Oh, I'm sure you're mistaken, Mrs. Cressler."

"Not in the least. I've known Curtis Jadwin now for fifteen
years--nobody better. He's as old a family friend as Charlie and I
have. I know him like a book. And I tell you the man is in love with
you."

"Well, I hope he didn't tell you as much," cried Laura, promising
herself to be royally angry if such was the case. But Mrs. Cressler
hastened to reassure her.

"Oh my, no. But all the way home last night--he came home with us, you
know--he kept referring to you, and just so soon as the conversation
got on some other subject he would lose interest. He wanted to know all
about you--oh, you know how a man will talk," she exclaimed. "And he
said you had more sense and more intelligence than any girl he had ever
known."

"Oh, well," answered Laura deprecatingly, as if to say that that did
not count for much with her.

"And that you were simply beautiful. He said that he never remembered
to have seen a more beautiful woman."

Laura turned her head away, a hand shielding her cheek. She did not
answer immediately, then at length:

"Has he--this Mr. Jadwin--has he ever been married before?"

"No, no. He's a bachelor, and rich! He could buy and sell us. And don't
think, Laura dear, that