ld marry him or no. Of one thing she was
sure without need of reflection, that she loved him ardently. As a
consequence she surrendered at once, though, curiously enough, she was
conscious when she permitted him to kiss her with effusion that he was
not the sort of man she had intended to marry--that he was not fit in
her sense of the word. Yet she was determined to marry him, and from the
moment their troth was plighted she found herself his eager and faithful
ally, dreaming and scheming on their joint account. She would help him
to succeed; they would conquer the world together; she would never doubt
his ability to conquer it. And in time--yes, in time they would make
even the Morton Prices notice them.

And so after some bewildered opposition on the part of Mr. Price, who
was alternately appalled and fascinated by the magniloquent language of
his would-be son-in-law, they were married. Flossy gave but a single
sign to her husband that she understood him and recognized what they
really represented. It was one evening a few months after they had set
up housekeeping while they were walking home from the theatre. They had
previously dined at Delmonico's, and the cost of the evening's
entertainment, including a bottle of champagne at dinner, their tickets
and a corsage bouquet of violets for Flossy, had been fifteen dollars.
Flossy wore a resplendent theatre hat and fashionable cape--one of the
several stylish costumes with which her husband had hastened to present
her, and Gregory was convoying her along the Avenue with the air of a
man not averse to have the world recognize that they were a well set up
and prosperous couple. Flossy had put her arm well inside his and was
doing her best to help him produce the effect which he desired, when she
suddenly said:

"I wonder, Gregory, how long it will be before we're really anybody.
Now, of course, we're only make believe swell."

Gregory gave an amused laugh. "What a clever little woman! That's just
what we are. We'll keep it a secret, though, and won't advertise it to
the world."

"Mum's the word," she replied, giving his arm a squeeze. "I only wished
you to know that I was not being fooled; that I understood."

Fate ordained that the Williamses and the Littletons should take houses
side by side in the same block. It was a new block, and at first they
were the sole occupants. Williams bought his house, giving a mortgage
back to the seller for all the man would accept, a