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- O, 1 *-L l Ihe QL of%/fee by FRANCIS PI ** ILLUSTRATIONS OV7- /O// 7TT ASIA A T -MF/PA. CHAPTER I.?Richard Lightnut. an American with an affected Ejglish accent, receives a presnt from a friend in China. CHAPTER II?The present proves to be a pair of pajamas. A letter hints I of surprises "to the wearer. CHAPTER III.?Lightnut dona the pajamas and late at night gets up for a i -smoke. His servant. Jenkins, comes in ?tnd, falling to recognize Lightnut, attempts to put him out. Thinking the servant crazy, Lightnut changes his clothes Intending to summon help. "When he reappears Jenkins falls on his neck with Joy, confirming Lightnut's belief that h? Is crazy. ^ - i 'CHAPTER TV.?Jenkins tells Lightnut ?f the encounter he had with a hideous Chinaman dressed in pajamas. nrr ? ot'C'td tr T_ ? . m vi. v vnAr -l i^xrw v ?tx iririii mo friend. Jack Billings, Lightnut is asked to put up "the kid" for the night on his way home from college. Later Lightnut j finds a beautiful girl in black pajamas ih bis room. j CHAPTER VI.?Lightnut Is shocked by ! the girl's drinking, smoking and slangy talk. CHAPTER VTI?She tells him her name $> Francis and puzzles him with a story ot her love for her sister's room-mate, named Frances. Next morning the girl ts missing and Lightnut hurries to the boat to see her off. He is accosted by a husky college boy. who calls him * "Dlckv." but he does not see the girl. CHAPTER Vm?Jack Billings calls to pend the night with Lightnut. t They dis'* cover prlcesless rubies hidden In the buttons of the pajamas. > * CHAPTER IX?Billings dons the pa- ' gam as and retires. A?juigmnui later uistuven i 4n his apartment a beefy person in mut- 1 ton-chop whiskers and wearing pajamas, i Jenkins calls the police, who declare the Intruder to be a criminal, called "Foxy Grandpa." CHAPTER XI?The intruder declares lie is Ligbtnut's guest and appeals to the latter in vain. Ml CHAPTER Xn-He Is hustled off to m *aiL -CHAPTER Xm-In the morning LightHut is astonished to And Billings gone, And more astonished when he gets a message from the latter, demanding his clothes. Lightnut. bound for Tarrytown. Billing's home, discovers "Frances," the ?lrl of the pajamas, on the train. j CHAPTER XIV?Lightnut speaks to " i * -m ?1 Her ana aiiuaes to ine mgru Deiore. one declares indignantly that Lightnut never aw her In black pajamas. At Tarrytown v Prances is met by a husky college youth, who hails Lightnut as "Dicky." The latter Ignores the boy, who then threatens to thrash him for offending Frances. Ufhtnut takes the next train home. CHAPTER XV?Billings storms over the outrage of his arrest. He and Lightnut discover mysterious Chinese characters on the pajamas. CHAPTER XVI?Professor DoozenberSis called In to interpret the hiero_ yphics. CHAPTER XVII?He raves over what be calls the lost silk of Si-Ling-Chi. r-FTAPT-RR XVTTT?1The writine declares that a person wearing the pajamas will j take on the semblance of the previous | wearer. The professor borrov.-s the paJamas for experiment. CHAPTER XIX?'"Billings" dressed In pajamas is found in the professor's room a.nd is-taken home in an automobile with Frances and a woman Lightnut calls "the frump." CHAPTER XX-Lightnut Is angered by the frump's" slanderous talk about "Francis." CHAPTER XXI?"Billings" is taken to ?kis room. A servant tells Lightnut that 4k message has just been received stating: *hat Billings was under arrest in New York for stealing a suit of black pajamas. CHAPTER XXII?Judge Billings astonishes Lightnut with a tale of Francis' escapades. Lightnut asks permission to ?peak to "Frances." CHAPTER XXIir?The judge declares that not another living' person would tackle the job, and Lightnut. his mind occupied with the beautiful Frances, is greatly mystified. UMAJ'! tK AAIV. ^ I Recover the Pajamas. Outside, swinging his club and kick-1 ing his heel in the macadam, I found a fat policeman?from New York, J ' knew by his helmet. He turned and I saw?O'Keefe! ' "Oh, there you are, sir!" And with & careless.duck and a wave, he ambled forward and placed in my hands a parcel. "It's them, all right!" he said, witt a wink. "The black silk pajamas? we got 'em, you see!" "Jove!" I ejaculated, staring. Thee - ?-J- i-t- -*-11? i J F** 11 suddenly i got me juu.y iuea iun strong, you know, and I was just sc dashed relieved and delighted, I shook _/liands with him?fact! | "Oh, I say, Jenkins," I remarked, twisting my glass at him, "by Jove: p^ou know?eh ?" "Certainly, sir!" Jenkins admitted calmly. "I knew in a minute soon as he told me!" And, by Jove, I believed him! Had to, you know; it was only just one instance of the devilish clever, intuitive way Jenkins had of boring into things! "Yes, sir,"?O'Keefe thoughtfully transferred a big wad to the other cheek?"the captain gave me a little r Jay off so's I could bring 'em up,"? lie studied with interest the top o! one of the pillars of the porte-cochere and shrugged lightly?"of course it wasn't just because of the reward, though of course nve nunureu uucft.3 is five hundred bucks, but we thought you might like to have 'em?thank you, sir!" For out of my folder 1 peeled five crisp centuries and laid ^ them in his palm. This done, Jenkins glanced at me. A ?nd turned suggestively toward the A entrance, but O'Keefe didn't make a m<*ve to go and no more did I. Fact I " was, I had a devilish keen notion that V the old cat upstairs would be watchlog for the policeman's departure i I 'A ?? *> s- | ., ' y'" ' rdmes ERRY ELLIOTT ! by itAy wmti^S VIJL OOJVA*/Yy through the grounds, and It came to me that to play him a little longer wouldn't do any harm, but might seal her jolly mouth the tighter. O'Keefe thanked me again. "You're Bure solid with the force, sir," he assured, nodding earnestly. "Just remember my number and the name cf Captain Clutchem If any time in town you get rounded up in any of our little?er, you know!"?he dropped a cheerful wink at me and glanced again at the bills. "Expecfc maybe you're anxious to know if Tim gets a divy ! outer this," lie proceeded; and I mur! mured some jolly something. Of I course, I wasn't anxious, you know; i fact is, I didn't care a dash?didn't even remember who Tim was. "Yes, siree, he'll get ten of this!'* he finished impressively. Meantime, he had. been hunching himself up until now he succeeded in [ W. ? # ~ f ~ ? ? A *-k?V ?YT?l% AM o wreuuiuug iiuui suuiewntJie ucumu, ?* ragged and shiny old wallet, bulging with worn and greasy papers. Within this, with a flourish, he laid the bills. Then he faced us with an air of Increased cheerfulness. "So much all for the velvet!" he remarked with another wink. Of course it was of no importance to set him right about the material; as for that, I didn't care a jolly hang I If he thought they were made of linoleum! But it gave me the idea of just peeking into a corner of the parcel to satisfy myself that its contents were of filmy black silk?and they were I I went no lunner; not iur an the gold of what's-its-name would i have profaned tbe package with further investigation. "Why, sir, I don't think you need be worrying but what they're all right," and the big policeman nodded confidently; "in fact there don't seem to be no damage at all." He added meditatively: "Which is some wonder, considering how we had to rough-house Foxy Grandpa before we ' J ?-J- J /.all +h' SOLteiieU U1LU uunu iu uig vv? t'other night." Here his cheeks swelled and he sent a long sheaf of brown j liquid at a grasshopper on the freshly whitened door-stones?and got it, too, neatly missing the polished toe of Jenkins' boot. "No, sir!"?emphatically?"I don't think you'll be hearing any holler from your lady friend when she goes to?eh, what?"?he stared at Jenkins blankly, for Jenkins had coughea?"Oh, excuse me!"?and his big hand lifted apologetically to his mouth, while his eyes rolled upward? "What I just meant was that I know they're all to the good; I went all over 'em!" T rothflr "Um l iuuLieieu, iuiuiuq AUWW faint. I dropped the parcel and Jenkins picked it up. By Jove, for a moment, he came jolly near having to pick me up, too, I was that shocked and prostrated! "The only thing?the only thing 'tall?" I had to wait through an agonizing moment while his tongue gathered his wad and peremptorily | expelled it, this time enlivening the | cold, dead monotony of the silver-gray macadam?"was her?I mean, was the pants." "Ah-h!" I put my hand to my side and looked at Jenkins appealingly, * a. * 11 nnro Vl 1 a /iVfiO | DUt. 11? Wa.b lUUAlLlg upnaiu, mo ^j kind of cast over like a bird's; the lines of his mouth tightened to an arch?and I knew he was suffering : too! But we must try to stand it a I little longer?just a little! Through one instant's respite, Mr. 1 O'Keefe's thick tongue was occupied I in striving to glutenize the entire wrapper of a much crushed and awfully yellow cigar. Then he separated a mouthful from the end and proceeded. "I did notice with the legs, that one of 'em was just a bit longer than 1 1 * * A y J J cfoflAn TTfl j in oiner, a.nu uuwu <iu mc oianuu .?*, was a wondering if?" the brown head of a crackling match drew a long, curving what-you-call-it on the smooth, "I Did Notice With the Legs." creamy masonry, and he paused to pump madly, striving to coax a draft of smoke?"we wondered if 'twas? intentional." His eyes sought mine inquiringly. By Jove, I was so frozen with horror, I couldn't even look away; just stood there, helpless, you know, and | nay jolly monocle hanging limp? I i couldn't Have lilted it to have saved my life! Felt my senses just growing numb all the while with the tragedy of the thing, the thought of this coarse monster's touch defiling the dainty, gossamer garment that had I shrouded her sacred what-you-call'ems?Oh, it was awful! : "Um?ah, I see! It was, then!"? : he was nodding with an air of understanding, pausing in the struggle with the refractory cigar. His strained and reddened face shaped sympathetically. "Just what I thought and told 'em!" he bobbed with satisfaction. j understand! You ain't got no need to | make no explanations to me!" and he ( j .lfted his fat hand to restrain them. I "Why. my wife's own grandfather had a club foot, and to her last day if she got outer bed on the wrong side, the old lady went a header sure?oh, 1 know!" A moment before, I had thought I that so far as the mere m^ter of jolly j misery was concerned, I had sounded ; the what-you-call-'ems; but now my dashed brain was reeling before this new horror! To think that she was? j but oh, it couldn't be! And yet I rei -11 - -S I 1_- J.1 J. 4. ^0 ^ j cauea ommousiy mat must, ul mc j time I had known her, I had only j I seen her sitting! I "By-y-y the way, sir!" He closed! one eye at me as he carved from the , . ?>rown beauty a half inch of its waxy | j bud, using for the maltreatment a per ' fectly brutal knife. "That was a neat j : try-on you made to copper the thief j yourself?a leetle [rregular, jou j : know," he shook his head at me, "but,' as the captain said, we ain't making j j no point about that with a gent like j l ?euro nnt?"?another inrnerisha- I I bl? line of beauty upon the receptive stone, and lie puffed inhalations of\ j joy. "But I knew you never could! get him to the station?I could have | told you.* "Oh!" I remarked, puzzled. By | Jove, I had a dashed awful thought j ' for a moment that I must be losing} my intelligence! I looked at Jenkins again, but he had pot yet come back to the ground. "Oh, I'm on, sir!" Another one ofj those awful winks as his club scratched his helmet sideways. "You j know I saw everything?I was right j there at the Kahoka, you know!" "Oh, that!" I said, understanding.1 ' For I knew then that he was talking ahrmt TTmrv Orandna in mv rooms. I j had almost forgotten the jolly old ! vagabond, but it occurred to me that i perhaps I ought to show some interi est as they must have recaptured him j along with the pajamas. "I say!" I chirped up, "did you have much | trouble about it?getting him again, j you know?" "Trouble?" O'Keefe's lip doubled contemptuously. "It was easy as butter!" His hand spread, palm downj ward, in an expressive gesture. "Why, he doubled right back to the Kahoka!" "By Jove, you know!" I exclaimed,1 startled. ' "Surest thing you know! I collared him rie^ht. in front and with the goods!" Mr. O'Keefe expectorated | eloquently. "My, but he did put up j an. awful holler?said the pajamas were his own and he had just had 'em made. And bluff?well!"?he fanned the air for a moment in the effort to find an appropriate gesture?"I'm used to these swell con men, but that gun was the limit?pulled out a card case, mind you, and letters, and wanted me to go with him to his club? 11 his club?" the big fellow doubled over | in a spasm of mirth tnat all but I choked him. "I told him I'd give him | the club if he didn't go quietly?for 'j you see I recognized him in a minute; I you can't lose them freak kind! Be-1 I sides, he give himself away: told me he'd overlook my conduct on this occasion and the other, if I would reII lease him. Well, that was enough! I beckoned Jimmy Dwyer across and i we run him down the line to the station. Oh, we got him there, but it wasn't easy?for him! And there v .ni -x ii? ii suay a wuuc; He had to pause and pump air, lie ' was so winded. "But it woulder tickled you," lie re*1 sumed, using one of the vestas I extended and puffing the cigar until it almost flamed, "if you coulder seen ; the grand-stand play this guy put up '! before the sergeant! But the old man just let him blow it rll off; just sat i; there calm behind the desk, chewing , away and jabbing a pen through tbe blotter, while this stiff fumed and spouted?oh, something scandalousbringing in the names of mighty near all the important people in New York; his friends, he said! Oh, yes, ! he mentioned you in particular, sir!" ?and his face expanded in a relish ing grin. "Dashed impudence!" I murmured feebly. ' "Oh, yes," carelessly, "but the sarge quieted him?just purty near soothed him to sleep before he got through, you know?it's one of his ways!"?his glance lifted solemnly. "Fine, you know!" I murmured admiringly. I reflected approvingly upon what a dashed good thing it was to have a man in that position?whatever it was?who was of such a devilish mild and gentle temperament: the quiet wrord?the soft answer?the kindly remonstrance?all that sort of thing, you know. "But, if no offense, there's just one question I'd like to ask you, sir." He' swung ijus ciuu witu a smiling, gauiai air. "Oh, dash it, no!" I responded ab! eently. j My eye had been suddenly attracted by a feathery gleam of white i through the trees. It was slowly mov-! ; ing up the slope to a pavilion over: looking the Tappan Zee. i H9 drew nearer with a confiential air. "Just a little argument I had with, the old woman, you know, about them pajamas. Would you mind telling me?as man to man, /understand ?if they garments is"?his voice dropped?"is like her real shape?Agger, I mean?h'm?" And he tapped the parcel lightly with his stick. Jenkins cleared his throat loudly! and shifted the pajamas to his other! side. As for myself, I just winced as under the stroke of a what-you-call-lt, j but one end of my dashed brain was being pulled by the flashing play of the dappling sunlight there upon? "By Jove, her figure exactly!" I ejaculated, staring. For it "was her?no, dash it, she, 1, mean! I had a perfectly clear view of her now as she paused on a little point and hung there looking out over the Hudson. In her hand was a fullblown, ripened rose, and her lips were shaping in ravishing little pouts, as musingly she blew the petals from i her. But go they would not, but hugged back in the arms of the light breeze, circling and fluttering about her glorious sunny head like a swarm of rosy butterflies. It made a pretty picture! "And what's more, they're just her color, too!" I murmured tenderly, forgetful of everything but her, unmindful that I was not alone. For under mv hand I could feel my lolly heart quivering like a champagne cork, j freshly unfettered and thrilling eager-! ly under the Impulse of the mad, I dancing, joyous spirit within. "The one lovely woman in all the world!" I breathed aloud, and I felt my eyes grow oddly moist. And for a minute I went off in a I jolly trance. "Good-by, sir!" It was O'Keefe's voice?oddly constrained. "Eh?" I ejaculated, blinking at him as I came back. Then I remembered ?but what was it he had been asking? Something? "Just, good-by!" he repeated with "I Trust You've Not Been Getting Into Trouble, Mr. LightnutI" ening: "No offense, I hope, if we let it -go at that?I mean, I guess you won't miss it if we don't shake hands?" I glanced at the gloves he was drawing on. "Oh, dash it, no!" I responded absently, and my eyes coasted up the slope again?then dropped back disappointedly, for she had disappeared within the pavilion. His helmet tossed as he looked back. "I guess we all've got our little " V* ^ WAtnflwlrA/1 QTifinn Q. prejuuiues, UC iciuoiacu a<puvv.ui.iuuki ly; "I know I have! I'm from the south]" 1 And without another word, Mr O'Keefe presented his broad back tc us, and swinging his stick carelessly, sauntered down the drive. "What the deuce!" I exclaimed looking after him. "I say, Jenkins what did he mean?" Jenkins' face expressed mild re proach and surprise. "Can it possibly matter, sir?" he questioned wearily. "Persons of?ei ?that sort, you know, sir?" "Jove!" I uttered, relieved. Jenkins' coldly elevated brows dismissed the matter from further consideration. He lifted the parcel with a slight gesture of inquiry. I had already come to a decision about it: I would send it to Billings! Perhaps the retrieving of the pajamas would have a soothing effect upon his poor mind! I gave Jenkins instructions. "H'm! Of course, manage to speak with him alone," I cautioned, having thought ol Judge Billings; "and don't forget the message." "Certainly, sir," said Jenkins attentively. "I'm just to say: 'Mr. Lightnut's compliments, sir; and he says you'll know what to do with these:' * I nodded. "Exactly, and I'll wail here?but, oh, hurry, dash it!" And J looked longingly at the pavilion and tried to feel if my part was right. He did hurry! By Jove, he was back almost immediately and locking a bit rattled. i "Yes, sir!"?he coughed as 1 screwed my glass inquiringly?"I got there^ just as the judge went into his room across the corridor, and Mr.; Billings opened the door the minute j said I was from you. I gave him the package and the message and he took it over in a corner; and then In about a minute I heard him chuck it somevhere and say some long word. He came back to me, looking kinder irrt j tated and with his eyes snapping." "Oh!" I uttered nervously. "Er,! what did he say, Jenkins?" Jenkins sighed. "Oh, well, sir, nothing as you might say was anything, really; he jerks out kinder crossly: 'Tell Mr. Lightnut, I say one thing at a time, and give him this!'" On the scrap o? paper I clutched j)ut_ of Jenkins' hand was a crazy j scrawl or Just a half-dozen words: I'm a biped, not a centipede! I squinted through the dashed thing twice, but could make nothing of it? I even tried it backward! "Jove!" I muttered perplexedly. "It's rum, Jenkins!" Jenkins' .mouth tightened and relaxed. "H'm, what I thought, sir," he responded soberly. "The demon rum, sir!" chapte'fT xxv. "If Ever I Find a Man!" "I trust you've not been getting Into trouble, Mr. Lightnut!" Her lovely eyes were dancing with mischief as they hunz there below mine?eyes, bluer than the Hudson at j our feet; yet between the jolly ripples that played across those pools of truth I could glimpse far down into depths that were the most devilishly entrancing, darkly, deeply, beautifully ?oh, you know! Why, by Jove, I almost took a croih per right into them! Only caught just in time, you know; straightened right on the verge, as it were?and | came up with a gasp, monocle dangling. Had almost forgotten the dashed windows?and the two cats that might be looking out I I murmured some Jolly apology, adding: "Oh, yes?quite so; certainly! I | mean-^-eh, what?" She was smiling, her rose-petal lip dragging through her teeth. "The 'bobby,' you know, just now" ; ?she nodded toward the porte-cochere ?"I was positive he had come to drag you away to your loathsome dungeon. And when he retired, I was?oh, so relieved!" And she clasped her hands, her eyes lifting upward. I "Oh, I say now?were^you, though V ! I grinned delightedly and slipping to a rustic/Chair beside her, looked her affectionately in the eye. For all her air of chaffing, I knew that under it I was a current of anxiety for me?the I ; darling! I [ I screwed my glass at her tenderly, | "What would you have done?" I j : said softly, "if he had?er?lugged me off, you know?" "Can you ask?" Wh^t a reproachful' side-glance she shot me through the J meshes of her silken what-you-call- j j 'ems! "Why, of course, I should have drawn my good excalibar and run him thr-r-rough and thr-r-r-ough!" By Jove, how she said it! And she Illustrated with the stemless rose? dash it, no; the roseless stem! She was superb?looked like the jolly j fencing girl; only a dashed sight more stunning, don't you know! And her ! excalibar, too! Didn't know what a | jolly excalibar was, but guessed it was j some delightfully mysterious but dead, i 1 ly feminine thing?some kind of sub- j merged hat-pin-sort-of-thing, you know ?that sort, dash it! Yet she would j have drawn it?and her good one, too, she said! j I "Jove!" I said feelingly. "Would! you, really?" And I almost took her hand?and again remembered the windows! So I just shot her a look, i Her glorious eyes sparkled. "That j Is, I would if I had one," she said j smiling; "but I'm afraid poor. Arthur ; i lost the last and only one. Sad, isn't! it?" | "Oh!" I just felt my jolly heart sink like 1 what's-its-name. Who the deuce was j "poor Arthur?" This must be another j ?some other thundering chap who j had been engaged to her. And what a i I rotten, careless beggar, too, to have lost it?that is, if he realiy had! or ' course, he would say 90, anyhow. And j 1 how the deuce did he get it, in the first place?did she give it to him, or v./* uiu uc j By Jove, how I should have liked to punch Arthur's head! Always did 'hate a chap with that name! I flushed i guiltily, but she did not see. For the ! moment, she was looking off dreamily across the valley. ' "I wonder," she said pensively, j "why it is one can never find another man like Arthur. Do you suppose it is because he was the ideal?" For an instant, I swallowed hard? lu? t ni..?tra/< nn Viravolv or tripd to. meu x yiu.vjn.cu. u>> --- t--? ?, don't you know. I "Jolly likely!" I chirped. Then' gloomily: "Oh, I say, you know, was he your ideal?" "Always!"?the blue eyes lighted wistfully?"I suppose it's because he was my first love; I found him so brave, so noble-mannered, you know? so simple!" Simple! Dash simple people?never could stand them! Thing I admired was brains! Aloud I said gently?almost humbly: "So glad you like him, don't you know?did like, I mean!" "Did like? I do still!"?her tone lifted in earnest protest?"I love to think of brave, dear Arthur and his knights?so few, and yet so full ol love, of gallantry and daring!" So his nights were like that! By Jove, I was devilish glad then that they had been so few?that was some 1 comfort, dash it! I wondered if the beggar was dead. But what difference did it make now, after all? She was mine now and she knew I knew it; that was why this sweet, ingenuous j child was laying bare to me her past j ?the darling! Really, I ought not to let her go on. I "Never mind them now," I urged I soothingly. And heedless of the win- j dows, I hitched a wee bit closer. 'That's all past and gone and you and I will yet see as good nights as they ever were." I spoke with assurance. "Don't you think so?" I added, softly. She sighed. "I don't know?I hope so!"?she lingered dubiously over it, looking away again, the while hef hand put back the fleecy, goideu wnat-you-call-it that was snuggling to her eyes. I looked at the goddess like forearm, bared to above the elbow, where it slipped from sight under the roll of sleeve, and thought of that night in my apartment when she had made me feel of her biceps, don't you Know. ' You don't know?" I repeated with gentle reproach. "Oh, I say, you know! You know you know yon know!" By Jove, that sounded rather rum, but I knew she knew I knew she knew?see? She looked at me sidewlge, her slender forefinger pressing the halfparted lips slowly shaping in a curve. Then her little teeth flashed, jewellike?regular jolly pearl setting in the frankest, sweetest smile!?and then her glorious arm and wrist tftihed ouHHonlv toward ma. "Yea!" she said oontritely, and with the most delightful, kindest inflection and laugh?such a laugh!?a laugh gurgling melodious?oh, dash it, yes; I mean just that!?like the flute notes in the overture to what'a-hi*oame?that sort I "That's the way I love to hear a man talk!" she said warmly. "I think it takes an American to stand up for his own place, his own times?please!" And gently, but with a lovely smile, she withdrew her hand that I had folded close in mine. I let it go, for I saw her look toward the house, and, of course, I understood?jolly careless of me not to have remembered?but she would know from my nod and shrug that I comprehended. I sighed, and my deep breath UrUUglll 11*31 gaz.?3 uav;&, wj uio auu **v* flashing smile as well. "And so/' she said, lifting her little chin, "you think there are just &a many knights now as there used to be?" ~i 1''*B IS^ I almost laughed at the child-likl question?but I didn't! Dash it, no, 1 wouldn't have done so for the world. Just looked at her seriously and answered her in kind: "Perfectly sure of It, don*t yoi know!" 1 ' And, by Jove, I was! Knew If theri had been any change, some newsp* per-reading chap at the club would [ have mentioned it?that was safe; ee- ; pecially one silly ass who was always reading of some jolly comet that was j coming. He would know about the nights. "Yes?Oh, yes, there are just as many!" I affirmed positively, and add' e<l quickly: "More, you know!" Foi suddenly I remembered It was leap* year, and I knew there was some jolly rhyme about leap-year gives us ons day more?so, of. course, there'd b? another night!. "You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that," she said musingly. "There are just as many knights, you mean, but the conditions hare changed?the man 1s changed?is thai It?" ' rJ' I should say the man was changed! "Oh, dash it, yes!'' I blurted. By Jove, I hoped there wouldn't be another change. ' ??*r ? ?liU 1IWU nVinT_ xou meau ?wnu a uluio, lenging, puzzled smile, she leaned forward, her elbow resting upon her knee like a sculptured, Grecian pillar; her .flower-like curving lingers supporting her chin like a Corinthian what's-itsname, you know, the sort of thing the ancient what-you-call-'ems alwaya added to top off their stunning marble columns?you know!?well, like that?"you mean we may find knights, ) , not only in the field, but in the shops, upon the streets?feven in the sluma; or In the hospitals, in the church or upon the bench?that is your idea?" It wasn't my idea at all?I should say not! Who wanted to spend nighta prowling around that way? Why? why, it wasn't respectable, dash it! Besides, that sort of thing?excursion-s In er ahmit SPPiner thinfiTS WaS deVlliSh tiresome, if you asked me. I never did do it, even abroad, where yolf meet Americans, jolly bored and tired, doing all sorts of rum places no one else ever thinks of, don't you know. And as for a trench! Well, it was like her, in her innocence of the world, not to know how downright vulgar that would be. I had seen couples sitting evenings In the park? . But I answered tactfully: "I don't mean those places so much, don't you know?I think we can find lots jollier and better nights elsewhere." And I closed my free ey and beamed at her through my glass. "Don't have to go so far, you know; under one's own roof, or?er?some one else's roof, for instance?why not here?" I jerked my head toward the old stone pile behind us. "Oh!"?her eyebrows lifted at me ?"so you've thought of that, too?"? j "Poor Fellow!'* she nodded gravely?"you mean In the library there?" *' I TO BE CONTINUED)