sk digger."

"Well," she remarked, in a casual tone, "if you know of brisker diggers
about--people who knew him--"

"Say no more. I'll search the town." Their eyes had met for an instant.
"Yes," she thought, "I'm getting on."

Dwight lunched with Joe soon after that, and later in the studio he and
Ethel had a talk.

"In a good many ways," he assured her, "he struck me as the same old
Joe--friendly and hospitable--he insisted on ordering quite a meal. But
we didn't eat much of it. We talked."

"Of Paris!"

"Very much so. There's a lot of Paris in him yet." And he told of their
long conversation.

"Now," she said, when she rose to leave, "if you'll just keep at him
occasionally--while his partner does the same at the office, and I do
what I can at home--"

"You insist on his being home every night?"

"That depends," said Ethel gravely.

"Suppose I take him some night to my club. We have quite a number of
architects there."

"Oh, wonderful! How good of you!"

"Mrs. Lanier," said her teacher, "I'm under your orders--digging for
gold."

He took Joe to his club on the following night, and later several times
for lunch.

"Joe likes it," he reported. "And he has already met some chaps who
knew of him and his earlier work, not only in Paris but over here, he
was one of the most brilliant designers in the city, I find--and a good
many men were disappointed when he threw over his true profession and
went after ready cash. How would you like me to put up his name?"

"For club membership?"

"Precisely."

"I'd like it, sir.

"And I obey."

"This is getting rather intimate," Ethel told herself that night.
"Never mind, my love, you've been perfectly honest. He knows very well
what you're after. And if he likes you and wants to help, so much the
better."

Some days in the studio she stuck severely to her voice and showed him
she meant business. She was practising quite hard, and her progress was
by no means slow. But on other days half the hour at least was spent in
learning from her new friend about "a Paris in New York." Dwight was
already finding one, although he had been here less than a year. In
this teeming city of endless change he had found a deep joy of creation,
of newness, youth and boldness that made even Paris seem far behind.
"It's all so amazingly big," he said, "with such revealing chances
opening up on every side!" How simple it was for him, she thought, with
a little pang of envy. A young