ightning than any real.
However, it was on that very account just the sort of cataclysm to
overwhelm phantom and illusory ships of fortune like Arthur Carrolls.
That week he acknowledged to himself that his career in the City was
over, that it was high time for him to shut up his office and to
shake the dust of the City from his feet, for fear of worse to come.
Arthur Carroll had a certain method in madness, a certain caution in
the midst of recklessness, and he had also a considerable knowledge
of law, and had essayed to keep within it. However, there were
complications and quibbles, and nobody knew what might happen, so he
retreated in as good order as possible, and even essayed to guard as
well as might be his retreat. He told the pretty stenographers, with
more urbanity than usual, and even smiling at the prettier one, as if
the fact of her roselike face did not altogether escape him, that he
was feeling the need of a vacation and would close the office for a
couple of weeks. At the end of that period they might report. Carroll
owed both of these girls; both remembered that fact; both reflected
on the possibility of their services being no longer required, but
such was the unconscious masculine charm of the man over their
foolish and irresponsible feminity that they questioned nothing.
Their eyes regarded him half-shyly, half-boldly under their crests of
blond pompadours. The younger and prettier blushed sweetly, and
laughed consciously, as if she saw herself in a mirror; the other's
face deepened like a word under a strenuous pencil--the lines in it
grew accentuated. Going down-stairs, the pretty girl nudged the other
almost painfully in the side.

"Say," she whispered, "did you see him stare at me. Eh?"

The other girl drew away angrily. "I don't know as I did," she
replied, in a curt tone.

"He stared like everything. Say, I don't believe he's married."

"I don't see what difference it makes to you whether he's married or
not."

"Sho! Guess I wouldn't be seen goin' with a married man. What do you
take me for, Sadie Smith?"

"Wait till there's any question of goin' before you worry. I would."

"Maybe I sha'n't have to wait long," giggled the other. When she
reached the sidewalk, she stood balancing herself airily, swinging
her arms, keeping up a continuous flutter of motion like a bird, to
keep warm, for the wind blew cold down Broadway. She was really
radiant, vibrant with nerves and young blood, sparkli