hankful that it did not happen to adjoin that of
the other lady of the party.

"I'm very pleased to meet you again! Seems quite a good time since we
parted," said Cornelia, gaily. Her hair stood out round her head like a
halo of gold, her eyes shone like stars, her cheeks were softly pink.
Guest was dazzled by the bizarre beauty of her. She wore no jewels, not
so much as a chain round her neck, and the dress by some witchery was
black once more, a thin black gauze, heavily jetted. He pointed at it
with a curious finger.

"I could have sworn it was green over there! What has happened to turn
it into black?"

Cornelia laughed complacently.

"It's meant to change! There are skirts and skirts: ever so many of
them, on top of each other, and each one is different. They all get a
chance at times. It's the vury latest craze. Mrs Moffatt nearly
killed me when she saw it."

"A chameleon effect. I see! Is it supposed to be symbolic?"

"Of me? I guess not! When I've made up my mind, I _stick_! There's no
chopping about for this child!"

It was extraordinary how illusion vanished at the sound of the high-
pitched, nasal voice. The fairy princess vanished, and in her place sat
a flesh-and-blood damsel, composed, complacent, and matter-of-fact.
Guest felt again the intrusion of a jarring note. He would have liked
Cornelia to welcome him with a flutter of embarrassment, to have seen
her eyes droop before his, and hear a quiver in her voice. He wanted to
realise that he was the natural head and protector, and she the woman,
the weak, clinging creature, whose happy destiny it was to be the
helpmeet of man; but as Cornelia herself would have phrased it, there
was "no cling to her." It seemed ridiculous to think of protection in
connection with a creature so jauntily self-satisfied and independent.

He sat by her side until the conclusion of the interval, but the
conversation was forced and uninteresting, and he rose to depart with
the depressing consciousness that the interview had been a failure,
since it left him less in sympathy with Cornelia than he had been in the
afternoon.

On his way to the door, Guest's eyes caught the signal of a warning fan,
and he looked up to see one of the boxes occupied by a party of his own
friends. He had been too much occupied with Cornelia to look around the
audience, but now it was impossible to leave the theatre without going
upstairs a few minutes. After the ordinary g