of the hotel and was flanked with boxes, while its floor was like
polished glass and its walls effectively decorated.

"Oh, how lovely!" exclaimed Helen as she first caught sight of it.
"It's just like home."

"I've seen quick-rising cities before," he said, "but nothing like
this. Still, if these Northerners can build a railroad in a month
and a city in a summer, why shouldn't they have symphony
orchestras and Louis Quinze ballrooms?"

"I know you're a splendid dancer," she said.

"You shall be my judge and jury. I'll sign this card as often as I
dare without the certainty of violence at the hands of these young
men, and the rest of the time I'll smoke in the lobby. I don't
care to dance with any one but you."

After the first waltz he left her surrounded by partners and made
his way out of the ballroom. This was his first relaxation since
landing in the North. It was well not to become a dull boy, he
mused, and as he chewed his cigar he pictured with an odd thrill,
quite unusual with him, that slender, gray-eyed girl, with her
coiled mass of hair, her ivory shoulders, and merry smile. He saw
her float past to the measure of a two-step, and caught himself
resenting the thought of another man's enjoyment of the girl's
charms even for an instant.

"Hold on, Alec," he muttered. "You're too old a bird to lose your
head." However, he was waiting for her before the time for their