ticket-window he had twice blocked; but there was no queue attached to
it now. He rested his elbow upon the apron and his chin upon his hand,
while the clerk waited until he should state his wishes. This was a new
clerk, who had just relieved the other.

"Well! Well!" he said at last.

"I'll take it now," Noble responded.

"What'll you take now?"

"That ticket."

"What ticket?"

"The same one I wanted before," Noble sighed.

The clerk gave him a piercing look, glanced out of the window and saw
that there were no other clients, then went to a desk at the farther end
of his compartment, and took up some clerical work he had in hand.

Noble leaned upon the apron of the window, waiting; and if he thought
anything, he thought the man was serving him.

The high, vaulted room became resonant with voices and the blurred
echoes of mingling footsteps on the marble floor, as passengers from the
express hurried anxiously to the street, or more gaily straggled
through, shouting with friends who came to greet them; and among these
moving groups there walked a youthful fine lady noticeably enlivening to
the dullest eye. She was preceded by a brisk porter who carried two
travelling-bags of a rich sort, as well as a sack of implements for the
game of golf; and she was warm in dark furs, against which the vasty
clump of violets she wore showed dewy gleamings of blue.

At sight of Noble Dill, more than pensive at the ticket-window, she
hesitated, then stopped and observed him. That she should observe
anybody was in a way a coincidence, for, as it happened, she was herself
the most observed person in all the place. She was veiled in two veils,
but she had been seen in the train without these, and some of her
fellow-travellers, though strangers to her, were walking near her in a
hypocritical way, hoping still not to lose sight of her, even veiled.
And although the shroudings permitted the most meagre information of her
features, what they did reveal was harmfully piquant; moreover, there
was a sweetness of figure, a disturbing grace; while nothing could
disguise her air of wearing that many violets casually as a daily
perquisite and matter of course.

[Illustration: _"He stared at her. His elbow sagged away from the
window; the whole person of Noble Dill seemed near collapse."_]

So this observed lady stopped and observed Noble, who in return observed
her not at all, being but semi-conscious. Looked upon thoughtfully, it
is