uld not tell whether it was the barrenness of the room, or Milt's
carefulness, that caught her. The uncarpeted boards of the floor were
well swept. He had only one plate, one spoon, but they were scoured, and
put away on newspaper-covered shelves in a cupboard made of a soap-box.
Behind a calico curtain was his new suit, dismayingly neat on its
hanger. On the edge of the iron sink primly washed and spread out to
dry, was a tattered old rag. At the sight of it, at the thought of Milt
solemnly washing dishes, the tears began to creep to her eyes.

There was but one picture in the room--a half-tone of a girl, clipped
from a magazine devoted to actresses. The name was cut off. As she
wondered at it, Claire saw that the actress was very much like herself.

The only other ornament was a papier-mache figure of a cat, a cat
reminiscent of the Lady Vere de Vere. Claire picked it up. On the
bottom was the price-mark--three cents.

It was the price-mark that pierced her. She flung across the room,
dropped on his creaky cot-bed, howled, "Oh, I've been a beast--a
beast--a beast! All the pretty things--limousines and marble
baths--thinking so much of them, and not wanting them for _him_! And he
with so little, with just nothing--he that would appreciate jolly things
so much--here in this den, and making it as tolerable as he can--and me
half ashamed of him instead of fighting for him---- I belong with Corey
and Betz. Oh, I'm so ashamed, so bitterly ashamed."

She patted his bed smooth with nervous eager fingers.

She scraped a pin-point of egg-yolk off a platter.

Before she had been home five minutes she had written a note asking him
to tea for next day.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE MORNING COAT OF MR. HUDSON B. RIGGS

Mr. Hudson B. Riggs now enters the tale--somewhat tardily, and making a
quick exit, all in a morning coat too tight about the shoulders, and a
smile of festivity too tight about the lips. He looked as improbable as
an undertaker's rubber-plant. Yet in his brief course he had a mighty
effect upon the progress of civilization as exemplified in the social
career of Mr. Milton Daggett.

Mr. Riggs had arrived at a golden position in Alaskan mining engineering
by way of the farm, the section gang, the surveyor's chain, and
prospecting; and his thick hands showed his evolution. His purpose in
life was to please Mrs. Riggs, and he wasn't ever going to achieve his
purpose in life. She wore spangles, and her corsets