except _that_ way--"
She raised her pretty gloved thumb and made a gesture in the air; and,
before she had achieved it, they were both convulsed with laughter.

"You never do that, do you?" she asked at length.

"No, I never do. I can't afford to decorate the atmosphere for nothing!"

"Then--then you are not interested in art nouveau?"

"No; and I never could see that beautiful music resembled frozen
architecture."

They were laughing again, looking with confidence and delight upon one
another as though they had started life's journey together in that
ancient omnibus.

"_What_ is a 'necklace of precious tones'?" she asked.

"Precious stones?"

"No, _tones_!"

"Let me cite, as an example, those beautiful verses of Henry Haynes,"
he replied gravely.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

I'd rather be a Could Be,
If I can not be an Are;
For a Could Be is a May Be,
With a chance of touching par.

I had rather be a Has Been
Than a Might Have Been, by far;
For a Might Be is a Hasn't Been
But a Has was _once_ an Are!

Also an Are is Is and Am;
A Was _was_ all of these;
So I'd rather be a Has Been
Than a Hasn't, if you please.

And they fell a-laughing so shamelessly that the 'bus driver turned and
squinted through his shutter at them, and the scandalized horses stopped
of their own accord.

"Are you going to leave?" he asked as she rose.

"Yes; this is the Park," she said. "Thank you, and good-by."

He held the door for her; she nodded her thanks and descended, turning
frankly to smile again in acknowledgment of his quickly lifted hat.

"He _was_ nice," she reflected a trifle guiltily, "and I had a good
time, and I really don't see any danger in it."

[Illustration]

XV

[Illustration]

She drew a deep, sweet breath as she entered the leafy shade and looked
up into the bluest of cloudless skies. Odors of syringa and lilac
freshened her, cleansing her of the last lingering taint of joss-sticks.
The cardinal birds were very busy in the scarlet masses of Japanese
quince; orioles fluttered among golden Forsythia; here and there an
exotic starling preened and peered at the burnished purple grackle,
stalking solemnly through the tender grass.

For an hour she walked vigorously, enchanted with the sun and sky and
living green, through arbors heavy with wistaria, iris hued and scented,
through rambles under tall elms tufted with new leaves, past fountains
splashing ov