."

Kern turned, much depressed. "It was me thought of Willie Walter. I
think you might lemme."

"You must do what I say, Corinne."

"Ain't I doin' it, no matter how hard it is, sir?"

"Don't call me sir, I've told you."

Kern sadly retired. However, she did not do exactly what Mr. V.V. said.
When, after forty minutes of storm and stress, he emerged from his
bedroom and shouted to Mrs. Garland to come and see him if she liked,
Kern, too, came running down the hall, still in her hat. Her interest in
the gay evening being so peculiarly strong, Vivian did not have the
heart to scold her very hard, especially as she cried ahead the promise
to go to bed the very minute he was gone. And it might be that he was
secretly rather glad to have his little friend see him in his
splendid regalia.

He stood under the chandelier in his decaying chamber, revolving himself
with complacence for the Garlands' inspection. It was O'Neill's old suit
that he had borrowed, which, as the Honorable Commissioner had pointed
out, really made a much better fit than the costly brand-new one just
from Begg's. At the first sight of their boarder in it, the two women
cried out with pleasure, likening him to dooks and dashing villains on
the stage, well seen by them from upper galleries of the past. But with
the dying of the first enthusiastic burst, Kern, the connoisseur, who
had herself been clasped by gentlemen's fulldressuits at union hops,
developed a more searching tendency. By the elbow she incited the doctor
to keep on rotating.

"There's _something_ wrong, sir, Mr. V.V., but I can't make out just
what it is."

"It's these shoes," said Mr. V.V., frankly. "I really ought to have
patent leathers to look like the rest of the bloods, but these'll do
very nicely, when I have them well shined up. I'll stop by the stand at
Ninth Street."

"This spot right in front of the coat don't look so _very_ good," said
Kern, scratching it with a small finger, which only whitened it up.

"Shuh, Kern! That!" said Mrs. Garland, who had seen the spot, but
decided to say nothing about it. "Why, hot suds and a drop ammonia'll
fade it out like sunshine, and nobody never know't was there. Wait till
I get my pan now, Doctor."

"I wisht the coat could set a little snugger round your neck, Mr. V.V.
But mercy, who cares, when you look so beautiful anyway! And you'll have
the most beautiful lady and set and talk to her, won't you, Mr. V.V.?"

"Stranger things h