looks intelligent and she is certainly beautiful."

"Oh, Howard! He is the best of men but the worst of husbands."

Her attention was claimed by the man on her right and at the same
moment Madeleine's had evidently been drawn to the wall of books
behind her. She turned, craned her neck, forgetting her partner.

Then, Masters saw a strange thing. Her eyes filled with tears and
she continued to stare at the books in complete absorption until her
attention was laughingly recalled.

"Now, that is odd," thought Masters. "Very odd."

She felt his keen gaze and laughed with a curious eagerness as she
met his eyes. He guessed that for the first time he had interested her.




X


After dinner the men went into his den to smoke, but before his
cigar was half finished he muttered something about his duty to the
ladies and returned to the parlor. As he had half expected, Madeleine
was standing before the books scanning their titles, and as he
approached she drew her hand caressingly across a shelf devoted to
the poets. The other women were gossiping at the end of the long room.