all times, riches had meant segregation
from the Common.... Round and round them pulsed the great warm tide of
real life, and, stung by this mad blindness, men sweated and fought
their lives away trying to scramble up out of the enriching stream upon
a sterile little island. You could almost have forgiven them if they
were happy upon their island. But happiness is born in the heart, and
they who seek it elsewhere in the end hold Sodom apples in fingers
through which the pearl of great price has somewhere slipped on
the way....

"Mr. V.V.! Ain't you dressing _yet_!" said a voice from without. "Mommer
says remind you it's after nine o'clock."

The tall young man came to earth with a thud. A startled frown gathered
quickly on his brow.

"_What?_... Then I'm late indeed. _Nine o'clock!_ I don't see how it's
possible...."

He seized Commissioner O'Neill's suitcase from the operating-table, with
a panic show of hurry.

Kern's voice took on a cheering inflection.

"Don't you mind, Mr. V.V. All the swells'll be late. D'you want me to
help you, sir? Don't you want me put in your studs 'r something?"

Mr. V.V. set down the suitcase, dealt a mortal blow.

"I have no studs," he said, in a quiet, scared way.

A little exclamation without was followed by: "Can I come in, sir?"

"Yes, yes; come in. But this is rather serious. I confess I--don't see
how it's going to work out...."

The door opened and Kern tripped in with a little kick, and a flash and
tinkle of jewelry at neck and waist. She never merely walked when it was
possible to dance.

"My regular shirts," said the young man, standing on the floor and
brushing his hair with a worried hand, "have the buttons sewed on, of
course.... Seems to me O'Neill might have thought of this contingency."

Kern repressed a desire to giggle at Doctor's air of helplessness, and
controlled her itching feet. She was not wanting in the resourcefulness
of the poor.

"I'll get you studs, Mr. V.V.," said she, eagerly. "Less see
now--where'll I get 'em?... I'll get 'em at Lazarus's--that's where!
I'll have 'em here in five minutes, and right in your shirt."

Lazarus? Why, they shut up at six o'clock. Yes, but Willie Walter, he
slept behind the counter, and was abed right now, on account of getting
up so early. Just let her bang the door in the alley a couple of times,
that was all. Moreover, Walter being obliging, it agreeably developed
that the studs would come as a temporary loan