"But it's gone out!" he exclaimed. "I'll have another."

As he reached into his pocket for his case, his hand encountered a
paper-covered volume. and he drew it out in some perplexity.

"Now, how in the wide world did that book come in my pocket?" he
muttered, frowning. "What have I been carrying it around for?
I've forgotten. I declare I have."

"What book is it?"

"Hey? book?...h'm," he murmured, staring.

Travis pounded on the table. "Wake up, Condy, I'm talking to
you," she called.

"It's 'Life's Handicap,'" he answered, with a start; "but why and
but why have I--"

"What's it about? I never heard of it," she declared.

"You never heard of 'Life's Handicap'?" he shouted; "you never
heard--you never--you mean to say you never heard--but here, this
won't do. Sit right still, and I'll read you one of these yarns
before you're another minute older. Any one of them--open the
book at random. Here we are--'The Strange Ride of Morrowbie
Jukes'; and it's a stem-winder, too."

And then for the first time in her life, there in that airy,
golden Chinese restaurant, in the city from which he hasted to