inning to despair of ever seeing
her again and feeling more dejected and miserable every minute in
consequence, he stopped in at one of the theaters to see an act or two of
a new play in which an English actress of great reputation, not only
because of her beauty but also for the artistic quality of her acting,
was appearing. To his own surprise, the first act interested him
sufficiently to remain, a resolution that later he could not sufficiently
commend, for, when the actress appeared in the second act, the street
dress she had worn previously had been changed for a superb evening gown.

As she came forward to the footlights Hayden started as if he had
received an electric shock and leaned eagerly forward fumbling for his
glasses, for there upon her bosom, gleaming against the lace of her gown,
was a great silver butterfly glittering with diamonds, while about her
beautiful shoulders fell a familiar chain of tiny, enameled butterflies,
azure, deep purple, yellow and orange, and strung together with jewels.

Hayden sat through the rest of the play in a daze. To his excited fancy
there were butterflies, butterflies everywhere, the air seemed full of
them. They served to bring up the image of Marcia Oldham very vividly
before him. He turned now and again and carefully scanned the house, half
believing that she was present and he might at any moment encounter her
eyes. But no such luck awaited him, and his surprise was all the more
marked when just as he was leaving the theater after the play was
finished he felt a light touch on his arm and looked down to see the
laughing face of Kitty Hampton.

"Kitty!" Hayden clutched her with such a grip that she winced. "Where
have you been? Although I have daily beaten on your doors and rung you up
on the telephone, I couldn't find a trace of you."

She laughed. "Who says I haven't well-trained servants! Come, drive home
with me," stepping into her waiting electric brougham. "Warren will be
there. He just got back this afternoon, and he will be so glad to have
you. You see, I was becoming so bored and cross, and I got to hate the
sight of everything and everybody to such an extent, that I just ran away
from it all, down into the country; and the best part of it was, that I
actually persuaded Marcia Oldham to go with me. Think of that! But I
succeeded in convincing her that it was her duty to go with me, that I
was really on the verge of an illness and needed her care. Marcia is
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