He was appalled at the rents. Even a miserable little back room in the
obscurer blocks commanded a sum higher than he had anticipated paying.
After looking at a dozen, he finally decided on a front room in the
Merchants' Exchange Building. This was one of the most expensive, but Keith
was tired of looking. The best is the greatest economy in the long run, he
told himself, and with a lawyer, new-come, appearances count for much in
getting clients. Must get the clients, though, to support this sort of
thing! The rest of the morning he spent buying furniture.

About noon he walked back to the Bella Union. His horse and buggy were not
hitched to the rail, so he concluded Nan had not yet returned for lunch.
Mrs. Sherwood, however, was seated in a rocker at the sunny end of the long
veranda. She looked most attractive, her small smooth head bent over some
sort of fancywork. Before she looked up Keith had leisure to note the poise
of her head and shoulders, the fine long lines of her figure, and the
arched-browed serenity of her eyes. Different type this from the full-
breasted Morrell, more--more patrician! Rather absurd in view of their
respective places in society, but a fact. Keith found himself swiftly
speculating on Mrs. Sherwood's origin and experience. She was endowed with
a new glamour because of Mrs. Morrell's enigmatic remark the evening
before, and also--for Keith was very human--with a new attraction. Feeling
vaguely and boyishly devilish, Keith. stopped.

She nodded at him, laying her work aside.

"You are practically invisible." she told him.

"Making ourselves a habitation. Seen Mrs. Keith?"

"No. I don't think she's come in."