beautiful as Stars who move up those lanes of light past our
rows of vagabond faces; the young men look like Lords in novels;
and if (it has once or twice happened) people I know go by me,
they strike me as changed and rapt beyond my sphere. And when on
hot nights windows are left open, and I can look in at Dinner
Parties, as I peer through lace curtains and window-flowers at
the silver, the women's shoulders, the shimmer of their jewels,
and the divine attitudes of their heads as they lean and listen,
I imagine extraordinary intrigues and unheard of wines and
passions.




_Social Success_


The servant gave me my coat and hat, and in a glow of self-satisfaction
I walked out into the night. "A delightful evening," I reflected,
"the nicest kind of people. What I said about finance and French
philosophy impressed them; and how they laughed when I imitated a
pig squealing."

But soon after, "God, it's awful," I muttered, "I wish I were dead."




_Apotheosis_