ss Gould simply.

"Trouble? trouble? Is his impression unfavorable? Heavens,
how unfortunate!" exclaimed the director airily. "Surely, my
application--Does the room fail to meet his approval, or--"

"Yes, it does," she interrupted. "He says it's no place for a man to be
in; and he says the pictures are--are--well, he says they are improper!"
glancing at the Venus.

"Ah!" responded the director with a suspicious sweetness. "He does not
care for the nude, then?"

She sighed deeply. "Oh, Mr. Welles!"

"It is indeed to be regretted that Mr. Waters's ideals are so
high--and--shall we say--so elusive?" proceeded the director smoothly.
"It is so difficult--so well-nigh impossible--to satisfy him. One
devotes one's energies--I may say one slaves night and day--to win
some slight mark of approval; and just as one is about to reap the
well-earned reward--a smile, a word of appreciation--all is forfeited!
It is hard indeed! Would you suggest the rearrangement of the Rooms
under Mr. Waters's direction? Thompson is at his service--"

"Oh, Mr. Welles!" she sighed hopelessly. "It isn't only that! It's not
alone the room, though Mrs. Underwood wonders that I should think she
would be able to conduct the Band of Hope in here, and Mrs. Rider says
that after what her husband told her she should no more think of sitting
here for a mothers' meeting than anything in the world. It's the whole
thing. Why did you treat them all to lemonade the first day? Surely you
knew that our one aim is to prevent miscellaneous charity. And Tom says
you smoked in here--he smelt it."

"I smelt him, too," remarked the director calmly. "That was one reason
why I smoked."

"And--and having Kitty and Annabel here all the time! The Girls' Club
are so j---- Well, the Girls' Club like the old rooms better, they say,
and it's so difficult to get them to work together at best. And now we
shall have to work so hard--

"And the men think it's just a joke, the lemonade and everything, and
the room gave them such a wrong impression, and they don't seem to want
it, anyway. Tom Waters says he can't abide sarsaparilla--"

"Great heavens!" the director broke in, "is it possible? A point on
which Mr. Waters's opinion coincides with mine? I have not lived in
vain! But this is too much; I have not deserved--"

"Oh, don't!" she begged. "There is more. When I corrected Annabel for
what I had heard about her--her impertinent behavior, she said that
Mrs. Underwood had