er on his part.

From that time on there were lovely days and evenings spent in her
company. Before the dinner she invited him over to breakfast one Sunday.
Her foster parents were to be away and she was to have the house to
herself. She wanted to cook Eugene a breakfast--principally to show him
she could cook--and then it was novel. She waited till he arrived at
nine to begin operations and then, arrayed in a neat little lavender,
close fitting house dress, and a ruffled white apron, went about her
work, setting the table, making biscuit, preparing a kidney ragout with
strong wine, and making coffee.

Eugene was delighted. He followed her about, delaying her work by taking
her in his arms and kissing her. She got flour on her nose and he
brushed it off with his lips.

It was on this occasion that she showed him a very pleasing little dance
she could do--a clog dance, which had a running, side-ways motion, with
frequent and rapid clicking of the heels. She gathered her skirts a
little way above her ankles and twinkled her feet through a maze of
motions. Eugene was beside himself with admiration. He told himself he
had never met such a girl--to be so clever at posing, playing and
dancing, and so young. He thought she would make a delightful creature
to live with, and he wished now he had money enough to make it possible.
At this high-flown moment and at some others he thought he might almost
marry her.

On the night of the dinner he took her to Sofroni's, and was surprised
to find her arrayed in a red dress with a row of large black leather
buttons cutting diagonally across the front. She had on red stockings
and shoes and wore a red carnation in her hair. The bodice was cut low
in the neck and the sleeves were short. Eugene thought she looked
stunning and told her so. She laughed. They went in a cab, for she had
warned him beforehand that they would have to. It cost him two dollars
each way but he excused his extravagance on the ground of necessity. It
was little things like this that were beginning to make him think
strongly of the problem of getting on.

The students who had got up this dinner were from all the art classes,
day and night. There were over two hundred of them, all of them young,
and there was a mixed collection of girl art students, artist's models
and girl friends of various grades of thought and condition, who were
brought as companions. The big dining-room was tempestuous with the
rattling of d