d, hummocks of sand. Inside all was warm
and flaring enough. The wine cellar seemed to contain all that one might
reasonably desire. Our host once out here was most gay in his mood. He
was most pleasantly interested in the progress of his new home, although
not intensely so. He seemed to have lived a great deal and to be making
the best of everything as though it were something to go through with.
With much talking on the part of us all, the evening passed swiftly
enough. Some of the men could play and sing. One poet recited enchanting
bits of verse. For our inspection certain pieces of furniture and
statuary were unpacked and displayed--a bronze faun some three feet in
height, for one thing. All the time I was sensible of being in contact
with some one who was really in touch with life in a very large way,
financially and otherwise. His mind seemed to be busy with all sorts of
things. There were two Syrians in Paris, he said, who owned a large
collection of rugs suitable for an exhibition. He had an agent who was
trying to secure the best of them for his new home. De Shay had recently
introduced him to a certain Italian count who had a great house in Italy
but could not afford its upkeep. He was going to take over a portion of
its furnishings, after due verification, of course. Did I know the
paintings of Monticelli and Mancini? He had just secured excellent
examples of both. Some time when his new home was further along I must
come out. Then the pictures would be hung, the statuary and furniture in
place. He would get up a week-end party for a select group.

The talk drifted to music and the stage. At once I saw that because of
his taste, wealth and skill, women formed a large and yet rather
toy-like portion of his life, holding about as much relation to his
inner life as do the concubines of an Asiatic sultan. Madame of the
earrings, as I learned from De Shay, was a source of great expense to
him, but at that she was elusive, not easily to be come at. The stage
and Broadway were full of many beauties in various walks of life, many
of whom he knew or to whom he could obtain access. Did I know thus, and
so--such-and-such, and one?

"I'll tell you," he said after a time and when the wine glasses had been
refilled a number of times, "we must give a party out here some time,
something extraordinary, a real one. De Shay and Bielow" (naming another
artist) "and myself must think it out. I know three different
dancers"--and