om I owe money?"

"What! Is your tailor here then?"

"Heaven forbid! Strange, isn't it, when a fellow starts in to pay up
his bills, that the tailor and the undertaker have to wait till the
last."

"The subject is outside my understanding."

"But you have dressmakers."

"I seldom pay dressmakers."

"Ah! Then you belong to the most exclusive set!"

"Or perhaps I make my own dresses--"

"Sh! Not so loud. Supposing some one should overhear you?"

"It was a slip of the tongue. And yet, you should be lenient to all."

"Kind heart! Ah, I wonder what all those interrogation points
mean--the black domino there?"

"Possibly she represents Scandal."

"Scandal, then, is symbolized by the interrogation point?"

"Yes. Whoever heard of scandal coming to a full stop, that is to say,
a period."

"I learn something every minute. A hundred years ago you would have
been a cousin to Mademoiselle de Necker."

"Or Madame de Stael."

"Oh, if you are married--"

"I shall have ceased to interest you?"

"On the contrary. Only, marriage would account for the bitterness of
your tone. What does the Blue Domino represent?"

"The needle of the compass." She stretched a sleeve out toward me and
I observed for the first time the miniature compasses woven in the
cloth. Surely, one does not rent a costume like this.

"I understand now why you attracted me. Whither will you guide
me?'"--sentimentally.

"Through dark channels and stormy seas, over tropic waters, 'into the
haven under the hill.'"

"Oh, if you go to quoting Tennyson, it's all up with me. _Are_ you
married?"

"One can easily see that at any rate _you_ are not."

"Explain."

"Your voice lacks the proper and requisite anxiety. It is always the
married woman who enjoys the mask with thoroughness. She knows her
husband will be watching her; and jealousy is a good sign."

"You are a philosopher. Certainly you must be married."

"Well, one does become philosophical--after marriage."

"But are you married?"

"I do not say so."

"Would you like to be?"

"I have my share of feminine curiosity. But I wonder,"--ruminating,
"why they do not give masquerades oftener."

"That is easily explained. Most of us live masquerades day by day, and
there might be too much of a good thing."

"That is a bit of philosophy that goes well with your robe. Indeed,
what better mask is there than the human countenance?"

"If we become serious, we shall put