issed him.

"You are _so_ good to me!" she cried. "And I'm not a bit nice."

He did not try to detain her, but sent her to finish dressing, with an
encouraging pat on the shoulder and a cheerful, "Don't worry about
yourself--or me."

XVII

About half an hour later the door into the bedroom opened and she
appeared on the threshold of the sitting room, ready for the street. He
stared at her in the dazed amazement of a man faced by the impossible,
and uncertain whether it is sight or reason that is tricking him. She
had gone into the bedroom not only homely but commonplace, not only
commonplace but common, a dingy washed-out blonde girl whom it would be
a humiliation to present as his wife. She was standing there, in the
majesty of such proud pale beauty as poets delight to ascribe to a
sorrowful princess. Her wonderful skin was clear and translucent, giving
her an ethereal look. Her hair reminded him again of what marvels he had
seen in the sunlight of Sunday afternoon. And looking at her form and
the small head so gracefully capping it, he could think only of the
simile that had always come to him in his moments of ecstasy--the lily
on its tall stem.

And once more, like a torrent, the old infatuation sprang from its dried
sources and came rushing and overwhelming through vein and nerve. "Am I
mad now?--was I mad a few moments ago?--is it she or is it my own
disordered senses?"

She was drawing on her gloves, was unconscious of his confusion. He
controlled himself and said: "You have a most disconcerting way of
changing your appearance."

She glanced down at her costume. "No, it's the same dress. I've only the
one, you know."

He longed to take her in his arms, but could not trust himself. And this
wonder-girl, his very own, was talking of leaving him! And he--not an
hour before--he, apparently in his right senses had been tolerating
such preposterous talk! Give her up? Never! He must see to it that the
subject did not find excuse for intruding again. "I have frightened
her--have disgusted her. I must restrain myself. I must be patient--and
teach her slowly--and win her gradually."

They spent an interesting and even exciting afternoon, driving from shop
to shop and selecting the first beginnings of her wardrobe. He had only
about three hundred dollars. Some of the things they ordered were ready
for delivery, and so had to be paid for at once. When they returned to
the hotel he had but fifty dollars l