off.

Before leaving,--she kept him until nearly twelve,--he playfully came
up behind her as she stood near the table, and, placing his hands
under her elbows, said:

"Hold 'em stiff now."

Then, to her amazement, he tried to lift her from the floor. He
couldn't budge her.

"It's all right," he exclaimed exultantly and refused to explain.

That night in his dreams an elephant came along and stood for a while
on his chest, but he was used to it by that time, and didn't mind.

The next morning, General Gamble reported by telephone that Martha
weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds and nine ounces. A minute
later, Eddie was at his desk calculating.

On the twenty-third of September she weighed two thousand and twenty-
five ounces troy. At nineteen dollars and twenty cents an ounce she
was then worth $38,880. With any sort of luck, he figured, she might
be expected to pick up a few pounds as the result of her new-found
happiness and peace of mind. Her worries were practically over.
Contented people always put on flesh. If everything went well, she
ought to represent at least $40,000 on her wedding day. Perhaps more.

He haunted the Country Club by day and the town clubs by night, always
preoccupied and figuring, much to the astonishment of his friends and