them, some pale, some dark, some handsome, some plain, but all
smiling and dapper, if not debonair, "some men could be endured if only
they were not _men_."

Mr. Ensign gave her a quick look, and while he laughed at the paradox,
straightened himself like one who could be a man if the occasion called.
She saw the action and blushed.

But their conversation was soon interrupted. Mr. Sylvester was seen
returning from the supper-room, looking decidedly anxious, and while
Paula was ignorant of what had transpired to annoy him, her ready spirit
caught the alarm, and she was about to rush up to him and address him,
when one of the waiters approached, and murmuring a few words she did
not hear, handed him a card upon which she descried nothing but a simple
circle. Instantly a change crossed his already agitated countenance, and
advancing to the ladies with a word or two that while seemingly
cheerful, struck Paula as somewhat forced, excused himself with the
information that a business friend had been so inconsiderate as to
importune him for an interview in the hall. And with just a nod towards
Mr. Ensign, who had drawn back at his advance, left them and disappeared
in the crowd about the door.

"I do not like these interruptions from business friends in a time of
pleasure," cried Paula, looking after him with anxious eyes. "Did you
notice how agitated he seemed, Cicely? And half an hour ago he was the
picture of calm enjoyment."

"Business is beyond our comprehension, Paula," returned her friend
evasively. "It is something like a neuralgic twinge, it takes a man when
he least expects it. Have you told Mr. Ensign of our adventure?"

"No, but I informed Mr. Sylvester, and he said such good, true words to
me, Cicely. I can never forget them."

"And I told papa; but he only frowned and made some observation about
the degeneracy of the times, and the number of scamps thrown to the top
by the modern methods of acquiring instantaneous fortunes."

"Your papa is sometimes hard, is he not, Cicely?"

With a flush Miss Stuyvesant allowed her eye to rest for a moment on the
crowd shifting before her. "He was dug from a quarry of granite, Paula.
He is both hard and substantial; capable of being hewn but not of being
moulded. Of such stuff are formed monuments of enduring beauty and
solidity. You must do papa justice."

"I do, but I sometimes have a feeling as if the granite column would
fall and crush me, Cicely."

"You, Paula?"