taxi was not immediately
forthcoming and she frowned impatiently as he appeared beside her. A
frowning Isabel had not entered into his calculations at all; it was a
mirthful, light-hearted Isabel he was carrying in his heart. He would
affect gaiety; he would let her see that he was a dare-devil, the man
she would have him be.

"Really!" he exclaimed, twittering like an imbecile, "isn't it jolly
that we've met in this way?"

"I'm not so sure of that! May I ask just why you are here under an
assumed name?"

"Well, you know," he began, his lips twitching as he mopped his face,
"you told me to throw a brick at the world and I've been following your
advice." Under her stoical scrutiny his voice squeaked hysterically.
"It's perfectly jolly, the life I'm leading! You never heard of anything
so wild and devilish! Miss Perry, behold your handiwork!"

Perspiring, stuttering, with the glitter of madness in his eyes, he was
not on the whole an object to be proud of, and there was no pride or joy
manifest in Miss Isabel Perry as she observed him critically, with the
detachment of one who observes a wild animal in a menagerie. Her silence
moved him to further frantic efforts to impress her with the fact that
he was now a character molded to her hand.

"You were asking for Mrs. Congdon; Mrs. Putney Congdon, I suppose? Well,
I certainly could tell you a story if you would give me time! What I
don't know about the Congdon family wouldn't make a large book! Ha, ha!
But if I had known Mrs. Congdon was a friend of yours I should have
acted differently, very differently indeed."

He was attracting attention. The porter, the bell-boy supporting
Isabel's bag, and a few passers-by paused, amused by the spectacle of a
heated gentleman earnestly addressing a young woman who seemed greatly
annoyed by his attentions.

The taxi drew up and she stepped into it, but he landed beside her,
flinging a handful of silver on the walk and taking her suitcase on his
knees.

"This is unpardonable! If it hadn't been for making a scene I should
have told the porter to throw you out!"

His teeth chattered as he tried to throw a conciliatory tone into his
speech without losing his air of bravado.

"You know you're responsible for everything! I see life differently,
really I do! And this is so beautifully romantic, running into you here,
of all places!"

"I think," she said, sweeping him with a look of scorn, "that you've
been following me or were p