k at night he went to his room and
made himself carefully immaculate. He studied himself with a good deal of
interest in the full length mirror which was set in the bath room door;
for he had seldom encountered such a mirror and he had a considerable
amount of vanity of which he was not at all conscious. It struck him that
he was remarkably good-looking, and indeed he was more so than usual, his
eyes bright, his face flushed, his whole body tense and poised with
purpose and expectation.

He went down to the lobby, looked Julia up in the register, ascertained
the number of her room, and made a note of it. Then he asked the telephone
girl to call her and learn whether she was in.

"Yes; she is in. She wants to know who's calling, please."

"Tell her an old friend who wants to surprise her." He did not care to
risk any evasion, and he also wanted his arrival to have its full dramatic
effect.

The telephone girl transmitted his message.

"She says she can't come down yet {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} not for about half an hour."

"Tell her I'll wait. If she asks for me I'll be in that little room
there." He pointed to a small reception room opening off the mezzanine
gallery, which he had selected in advance. He had planned everything
carefully.

When he stood up to meet her she gave a little gasp, and took a step back.

"Why, you! Ramon! How could you? You shouldn't have come. You know you
shouldn't. I didn't mean that {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} I had no idea.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}"

He came forward and took her hand and led her to a settee. Despite all her
protests he could see very plainly that he had scored heavily in his own
favour. She was flustered with excitement and pleasure. Like all women,
she was captivated by sudden, decisive action and loved the surprising and
the dramatic.

They sat side by side, looking at each other, smiling, making unimportant
remarks, and then looking at each other again. Ramon felt that she had
changed. She was as pretty as ever, and never had she stirred him more
strongly. But her appeal seemed more immediate than before; she seemed
less remote. The innocence of her wide eyes was a little less noticeable
and their flash of recklessness a little more so. It seemed to him that
her mouth was larger, which may have been due to the fact that she had
rouged it a little too much. She wore a pink decollete with straps over
the shoulders one of which kept slipping down and had to be pulled