the last three years and foolish enough to bore me until in
self-defense I escaped from his clutches. As for myself, at
least I am not the young woman who can stand staying in that
gaudy theatrical hotel for another day longer. I have done so
many bold, unmaidenly things that you may believe it easy for
me. It is not.

"I am truly a horrid, old-time, hoopskirt-minded prude. My first
act of domestic tyranny is to make you find a sedate, prim place
for my work and play, where I may know my own blushes when I see
them in the mirror, and will have less occasion to deserve them!"

"Your work? What is that?"

"It is very hard work--with a typewriter, but not in code. I
will not divulge my name until we tell it to the marriage license
clerk. But Dick Holloway knows me, and I came to this country,
partly to see him. I have written a few plays, which simple as
they were, seemed to interest European audiences and critics.
Some of my novels have strangely enough brought in royalties,
despite the publishers! But, I became satiated with life in
England and on the Continent. I came here because I felt that I
needed life in a younger and newer country. I needed an
emotional and physical awakening."

"You have not wasted any time in drowsiness since you
reached America."

"No--and all because I went to Holloway's office that fateful
morning, before I saw any one else in New York, to ask about a