to
make the room look homely. You see this lady must be made as comfortable
as possible, for she will see no one but her daughter, and all the
evenings she will be alone. Now will you be so good as to have the fire
lit? And these little things I am about to get for you, of course they
will become your property; only you need not say who presented them to
you, you perceive?"

The little woman's face grew happy again, and she assured him fervently
and repeatedly that he might trust her to do her best for this lady
about whom he seemed so anxious.

It was almost dusk when he went out; most of the shops in Sloane Street
had their windows lit. He set about this further task of his with an
eager delight. For although it was ostensibly for Natalie's mother that
he was buying this and buying that, there was an underlying
consciousness that Natalie herself would be pleased--that many and many
a time she would occupy that pretty little sitting-room, that perhaps
she might guess who it was who had been so thoughtful about her mother
and herself. Fortunately Sloane Street is an excellent shopping
thoroughfare; he got everything he wanted--even wax candles of the
proper tint of red. He first of all went to the florist's and got fruit
and flowers enough to decorate a hall. Then from shop to shop he
wandered, buying books here, a couple of lamps there, a low,
softly-cushioned easy-chair, a fire-screen, pastils, tins of sweet
biscuits, a dozen or two of Hungarian wine, a tea-making apparatus, a
box of various games, some white rose scent, and he was very near adding
a sewing-machine, but thought he would wait to see whether she
understood the use of that instrument. All these and many other articles
were purchased on the explicit condition that they were to be delivered
in Hans Place within the following half-hour.

Then he went back to the lodging-house, carrying in his hand the red
candles. These he placed himself in the sconces, and lit them; the
effect was good, now that the fire was blazing cheerfully. One by one
the things arrived; and gradually the lodging-house sitting-room grew
more and more like a home. He put the flowers here and there about the
place, the little Frenchwoman having brought him such, small jars and
vases as were in her possession--these fortunately including a couple of
bits of modern Venetian glass. The reading-lamp was lit and put on the
small table; the newly imported easy-chair was drawn to the fire; s