piece of glass to expose. He had travelled, read, studied,
occasionally written, and in matters pertaining to the colouring and
fusing of glass was cited as an authority. He was one of the
directors of the new Art Gallery that had taken the place of the old
Exposition Building on the Lake Front.

Laura had known him for some little time. On the occasion of her two
previous visits to Page he had found means to see her two or three
times each week. Once, even, he had asked her to marry him, but she,
deep in her studies at the time, consumed with vague ambitions to be
a great actress of Shakespearian roles, had told him she could care
for nothing but her art. He had smiled and said that he could wait,
and, strangely enough, their relations had resumed again upon the
former footing. Even after she had gone away they had corresponded
regularly, and he had made and sent her a tiny window--a veritable
jewel--illustrative of a scene from "Twelfth Night."

In the foyer, as the gentlemen were checking their coats, Laura
overheard Jadwin say to Mr. Cressler:

"Well, how about Helmick?"

The other made an impatient movement of his shoulders.

"Ask me, what was the fool thinking of--a corner! Pshaw!"

There were one or two other men about, making their overcoats and
opera hats into neat bundles preparatory to checking them; and
instantly there was a flash of a half-dozen eyes in the direction of
the two men. Evidently the collapse of the Helmick deal was in the