l hotel in Algiers, which they had taken with "some money that had
come to them," but were not doing as well as they could wish. Doctor
Lefebre, feeling sure that she meant to make trouble, had not answered
the letter; but even had he answered, he could only have said that Mrs.
Doran lived in New York. He knew no more himself, and had never tried to
find out. Since then he had heard nothing of the Delatour family.

That same night Max left Paris for Marseilles, and the next morning he
was on board the _General Morel_ starting for Algiers. For the first
time in his life he had to think of economy: for though Rose's legacy
had amounted to something over fifteen thousand dollars, already it was
nearly disposed of. He determined never again to touch a Doran dollar
for his own personal use, unless he discovered that the rightful owner
was dead. He had left Fort Ellsworth owing a good deal here and there;
for tradesmen were slow about sending bills to such a valuable customer.
Now, however, he felt that he must pay his debts with the money that was
his own; and settling them would make an immense hole in his small
inheritance. There, for instance, were the pearls and the ring he had
bought for Billie Brookton. Their cost alone was nine thousand dollars,
and even if Billie should offer to give them back, he meant to ask her
to keep them for remembrance. But she would not offer. He would never
have admitted to himself that he knew she would not; yet, since
receiving her letter, he had known. If he had by and by to tell Billie
that he was to be a poor man, she would make some charming excuse for
not sending back his presents. Or else she would not refer to them at
all. Whatever the future might bring, it seemed to Max that he had lost
youth's bright vision of romance. There was no such girl in the world as
the girl he had dreamed. The letter had shown him that--the one letter
he had ever had from Billie Brookton.

After his talk with Doctor Lefebre the change in his life became for Max
more intimately real than it had been before. The fact that he was
travelling second-class, though an insignificant thing in itself,
brought it home to him in a curious, irritating way. He felt that he
must be a weak, spoiled creature, not worthy to call himself a soldier,
because little, unfamiliar shabbinesses and inconveniences disgusted
him. He remembered how he had revelled in his one trip abroad with Rose
and some friends of theirs the year