s to be felt
the hard inquisitive stare of New York, each man wondering who and
whence his neighbor was, speculating under his smile as to which man of
them made, on the whole, the best appearance, seemed most plentiful of
his money....

Pink-shaded candles stood on the little table; also La France roses of
Canning's purchasing; also glasses, three more of them brought as they
took their seats.

"Do you spurn your cocktail, Carlisle?" asked Canning, and when she
convivially indicated that she didn't, he added, man to man: "How!"

"How," said Cally.

She touched it to her lips, giving back his smile over the rim of her
glass, and feeling gay, indeed. Two cocktails before one dinner--well!

"What kind of one is this, Hugo?" she demanded, quite knowingly.

Canning named it.

"Well, then," said she, "it was a Bronx I had before."

She did not say before what, and nobody asked. About them, as they sat
in the lively hum, circled servitors without end. One fellow had brought
their bit of caviare; another bore away the traces of it; another had no
share of them but to fetch crisp rolls. Little omnibuses in white suits
moved about, gathering up papers or napkins dropped by careless diners;
bigger omnibuses in dinner jackets exported trays of dishes which the
lordly artists of the serving force were above touching. Other varlets
merely stood about and cooed....

Dinner, having begun with the cocktails, swept on with a rattle of talk.
There was debate about the theatre afterwards. The girl's eyes turned
often toward the door.

"What do you think of it all, Carlisle?"

"Sweet, Hugo!... So simple and artless and homey!"

"Exactly," said Canning; and obtained permission for a cigarette. "But
yet interesting as a vaudeville show, don't you think? What so amusing
as to see human vanity displaying itself not merely without reserve but
with a terrific blowing of horns?"

"Well put, Hugo!" said Mrs. Heth, who held that any kind of
generalization constituted good talk. She added: "Who are all these
people? How would one place them?"

Canning could indicate a celebrity or two. He had bowed several times,
finding acquaintances, it seemed, even in this glittering farrago. But
his eyes returned to his bride-to-be, from whom he removed his gaze with
reluctance to-night. She wore a dress of yellow crepe-de-chine, with a
draped arrangement of blue chiffon, which followed faithfully the long
lines of her figure; and a hat of blue