absorbed in it and in analyzing the effect it had had upon him, that his
servant spoke twice before he heard him.

"No," he answered, "I shall not dine here to-night." Dining at home was
with him a very simple affair, and a somewhat lonely one, and he avoided
it almost nightly by indulging himself in a more expensive fashion.

But even as he spoke an idea came to Stuart which made him reconsider
his determination, and which struck him as so amusing, that he stopped
pulling at his tie and smiled delightedly at himself in the glass before
him.

"Yes," he said, still smiling, "I will dine here to-night. Get me
anything in a hurry. You need not wait now; go get the dinner up as soon
as possible."

The effect which the photograph of Miss Delamar had upon him, and the
transformation it had accomplished in his room, had been as great as
would have marked the presence there of the girl herself. While
considering this it had come to Stuart, like a flash of inspiration,
that here was a way by which he could test the responsibilities and
conditions of married life without compromising either himself, or the
girl to whom he would suppose himself to be married.

"I will put that picture at the head of the table," he said, "and I will
play that it is she herself, her own, beautiful, lovely self, and I will
talk to her and exchange views with her, and make her answer me just as
she would were we actually married and settled." He looked at his watch
and found it was just seven o'clock. "I will begin now," he said, "and
I will keep up the delusion until midnight. To-night is the best time to