"Oh, as I've said, I did nothing reckless," resumed Gerty, relaxing
among her cushions, "I neither slapped his face nor went into
hysterics--these tactics, I've found, never work unless one happens to
be a prima donna--so I complimented him upon his consideration and sat
down and waited. That night he went to a club dinner--after the
beautiful surprise he'd given me he felt that he deserved a little
freedom--and the door had no sooner closed upon him than I paid the
butler to come in and smoke the walls. He didn't want to do it at all,
so I really had to pay him very high--I gave him a suit of Perry's
evening clothes. It's the ambition of his life, you know, to look like
Perry."

"How under heaven did he manage it?" persisted Susie. "The smoke, I
mean, not the resemblance."

"There are a good many lamps about the house and we brought them all
in, every one. The butler warned me it was dangerous, but I assured him
I was desperate. That settled it--that and the evening clothes--and by
the time Perry returned the room was like an extinct volcano."

"And he never found out?" asked Susie, as the callers rose to go.

"Found out! My dear, do you really give him credit for feminine
penetration? Well, if you will go--good-bye--and--oh--don't look at my
gown to-morrow night or you'll turn blue with envy," then, as Trent
started to follow the retreating visitors, she detained him by a
gesture. "Stay awhile, unless you're bored," she urged, "but if you're
really bored I shan't say a word. I assure you I sometimes bore myself."