d his
eyes were the keenest, kindest, most gently humorous eyes she had ever
encountered. You know that picture of Lincoln that shows us his eyes
with much that expression in them? That's as near as I can come to
conveying to you the whimsical pathos in this man. They were the eyes of
a lonely little boy grown up. And they had seen much in the process.

Fanny felt her little blaze of anger flicker and die.

"That's the girl," said Heyl, and patted her hand. "You'll like
me--presently. After you've forgotten about that sniveling kid you
hated." He stepped back a pace and threw back his coat senatorially.
"How do I look?" he demanded.

"Look?" repeated Fanny, feebly.

"I've been hours preparing for this. Years! And now something tells
me--This tie, for instance."

Fanny bit her lip in a vain effort to retain her solemnity. Then she
gave it up and giggled, frankly. "Well, since you ask me, that tie!----"

"What's the matter with it?"

Fanny giggled again. "It's red, that's what."

"Well, what of it! Red's all right. I've always considered red one of
our leading colors."

"But you can't wear it."

"Can't! Why can't I?"

"Because you're the brunest kind of brunette. And dark people have a
special curse hanging over them that makes them want to wear red.
It's fatal. That tie makes you look like a Mafia murderer dressed for
business."

"I knew it," groaned Heyl. "Something told me." He sank into a chair
at the side of her desk, a picture of mock dejection. "And I chose it.
Deliberately. I had black ones, and blue ones, and green ones. And I
chose--this." He covered his face with a shaking hand.

Fanny Brandeis leaned back in her chair, and laughed, and laughed, and
laughed. Surely she hadn't laughed like that in a year at least.

"You're a madman," she said, finally.

At that Heyl looked up with his singularly winning smile. "But
different. Concede that, Fanny. Be fair, now. Refreshingly different."

"Different," said Fanny, "doesn't begin to cover it. Well, now you're
here, tell me what you're doing here."

"Seeing you."

"I mean here, in Chicago."

"So do I. I'm on my way from Winnebago to New York, and I'm in Chicago
to see Fanny Brandeis."

"Don't expect me to believe that."

Heyl put an arm on Fanny's desk and learned forward, his face very
earnest. "I do expect you to believe it. I expect you to believe
everything I say to you. Not only that, I expect you not to be surprised
at anything I say