think tremendously, if one is quite alone. It stimulates the brain, I
suppose. So I was thinking a lot of rubbish over my solitary meal."

She looked at the two men apologetically.

"_La femme pense_," she said, and she shrugged her shoulders.

Armine drew his chair a little nearer to her, and this action suddenly
made Doctor Isaacson realize the power that still dwelt in this woman,
the power to govern certain types of men.

"And the man acts," completed Armine.

"And the woman acts, too, and better than the man," the Doctor thought
to himself.

Again his admiration was stirred, this time by the sledge-hammer
boldness of Mrs. Chepstow, by her complete though so secret defiance of
himself.

"But what were you thinking about?" Armine continued, earnestly. "I
noticed how preoccupied you were even when you came into the room."

"Did you? I was thinking about a conversation I had this afternoon.
Oddly enough"--she turned slowly towards Meyer Isaacson--"it was with a
doctor."

"Indeed?" he said, looking her full in the face.

"Yes."