of the
girls in an adjoining room, studying in an evening life class, stopped
their work to peep through a half dozen small holes which had been
punched in the intervening partition. The sight of Showalter carrying
the girl so astonished the eavesdroppers that the news of it was soon
all over the building. Knowledge of the escapade reached the Secretary
and the next day the student was dropped. But the Bacchic dance had been
enacted--its impression was left.

There were other treats like this in which Eugene was urged to drink,
and he did--a very little. He had no taste for beer. He also tried to
smoke, but he did not care for it. He could become nervously intoxicated
at times, by the mere sight of such revelry, and then he grew witty,
easy in his motions, quick to say bright things. On one of these
occasions one of the models said to him: "Why, you're nicer than I
thought. I imagined you were very solemn."

"Oh, no," he said, "only at times. You don't know me."

He seized her about the waist, but she pushed him away. He wished now
that he danced, for he saw that he might have whirled her about the room
then and there. He decided to learn at once.

The question of a girl for the dinner, troubled him. He knew of no one
except Margaret, and he did not know that she danced. There was Miss
Blue, of Blackwood--whom he had seen when she made her promised visit to
the city--but the thought of her in connection with anything like this
was to him incongruous. He wondered what she would think if she saw such
scenes as he had witnessed.

It chanced that one day when he was in the members' room, he met Miss
Kenny, the girl whom he had seen posing the night he had entered the
school. Eugene remembered her fascination, for she was the first nude
model he had ever seen and she was pretty. She was also the one who had
come and stood by him when she was posing. He had not seen her since
then. She had liked Eugene, but he had seemed a little distant and, at
first, a little commonplace. Lately he had taken to a loose, flowing tie
and a soft round hat which became him. He turned his hair back loosely
and emulated the independent swing of Mr. Temple Boyle. That man was a
sort of god to him--strong and successful. To be like that!

The girl noted a change for what she deemed the better. He was so nice
now, she thought, so white-skinned and clear-eyed and keen.

She pretended to be looking at the drawing of a nude when she saw him.