the very neatest dressers of all
the birds. But look! Like a real robin, I've brought spring with me."
He opened a huge box of long-stemmed roses and held their cool, dewy
buds against Ma Briskow's withered face, then, laughing and chatting,
he arranged them in vases where she could see them. Next, he drew down
the shades, shutting out the dreary afternoon, after which he lit the
gas log, and soon the room, whether by reason of his glowing
personality or his deft rearrangement of its contents, or both, became
a warm and cheerful place.

He had brought other gifts than flowers, too; thoughtful, expensive
things that fairly took Ma's breath. No one had ever given her
presents; to be remembered, therefore, with useless, delightful little
luxuries filled her gentle soul with a guilty rapture.

But these were not gifts in the ordinary sense; they were offerings
from the Duke of Dallas, and his manner of presenting them invested
every article with ducal dignity. The Princess Pensacola had not played
for a long time, and so to recline languidly in a beautiful Japanese
kimono, with her feet in a pair of wonderful soft boudoir slippers spun
by the duke's private silkworms and knit by his own oriental knitting
slaves, while he paid court to her, was doubly thrilling.

The duke certainly was a reckless spender, but thank goodness he hadn't
bought things for the house--things just to _look_ at and to share with
other people! He knew enough to buy intimate things, things a woman
could wear and feel rich in. Ma hugged herself and tried to look
beautiful.

Gray was seated on the side of her couch with her cold hand between his
warm palms, and he was telling her about the princess of Wichita Falls
when the summons to dinner interrupted them.

Ma was not hungry, and she had expected to have a bite in her own room;
but her caller was so vigorous in his objections to this plan that she
finally agreed to come downstairs.

The Briskow household was poorly organized as yet, and it was only
natural that it should function imperfectly; nevertheless, Gray was
annoyed at the clumsy manner in which the dinner was served. Being a
meticulous man and accustomed to comfort, incompetent servants
distressed him beyond measure, and he soon discovered that the Briskow
help was as completely incompetent as any he had ever seen. The butler,
for instance, a pleasant-faced colored man, had evidently come straight
from the docks, for he passed the food