sit next you at dinner." Madeleine spoke in her gayest tones, but in
truth she dreaded what the man might make of this innocent escapade
and intended to make a friend of him if possible.

She was growing accustomed to the gloom and saw him smile fatuously.
"That sends me to the seventh heaven. How often since you came have I
wished that my dancing days were not over."

"I'd far rather hear you talk. Tell me some news."

"News? News? San Francisco is as flat at present as spilled
champagne. Let me see? Ah! Did you ever hear of Langdon Masters?"

"No. Who is he?"

"He is Virginian like myself--a distant cousin. He fought through the
war, badly wounded twice, came home to find little left of the old
estate--practically nothing for him. He tried to start a newspaper in
Richmond but couldn't raise the capital. He went to New York and wrote
for the newspapers there; also writes a good deal for the more
intellectual magazines. Thought perhaps you had come across something
of his. There is just a whisper, you know, that you were rather a bas
bleu before you came to us."

"Because I was born and educated in Boston? Poor Boston! I do recall
reading something of Mr. Masters' in the _Atlantic_--I suppose it
was--but I have forgotten what. Here, I have grown too frivolous--and
happy--to care to read at all. But what have you to tell me
particularly about Mr. Masters?"