girl's mind for worse than the reality. That he was in
earnest in his profession of a desire to bring about the
match showed when he proposed that they should take
rooms at a hotel in New York, to give her a chance to
dress properly for the dinner. True, he hastened to say
that the expense must be met altogether out of the
remnant of Mildred's share of her father's estate, but
the idea would not have occurred to him had he not
been really planning a marriage.

Never had Mildred looked more beautiful or more
attractive than when the three were ready to sally forth
from the Manhattan Hotel on that Thanksgiving evening.
At twenty-five, a soundly healthy and vigorous
twenty-five, it is impossible for mind and nerves,
however wrought upon, to make serious inroads upon
surface charms. The hope of emancipation from her hideous
slavery had been acting upon the girl like a powerful
tonic. She had gained several pounds in the three
intervening days; her face had filled out, color had come
back in all its former beauty to her lips. Perhaps
there was some slight aid from art in the extraordinary
brilliancy of her eyes.

Presbury inventoried her with a succession of grunts
of satisfaction. ``Yes, he'll want you,'' he said.
``You'll strike him as just the show piece he needs.
And he's too shrewd not to be aware that his choice is
limited.''