interesting people and to see them in their interesting moments. But I
can't afford to hunt for them through the wilderness of nonentities and
wait for them to become interesting."

"But you get amusement, relaxation. Then too, it's first-hand study of
life."

"I'm not sure of that. Yawning is not a very attractive kind of relaxation,
is it? And as for study of life, eight years of reporting gave me more of
that than I could assimilate. And it was study of realities, not of
pretenses. As I remember them, 'respectable' people are all about the same,
whether in their vices or in their virtues. They are cut from a few
familiar, 'old reliable' patterns. No, I don't think there is much to be
learned from respectability on dress parade."

"You'll be amused on Thursday. You must come. I'm counting on you."

Howard accepted--cordially as he could not refuse decently. Yet he had a
presentiment or a shyness or an impatience at the interruption of his
routine which reproached him for accepting with insistence and persistence.




X.

THE ETERNAL MASCULINE.


It was the first week in November, and in those days "everybody" did not