he accommodatingStreffy had been unable to put the villa at their disposal for alonger time, since he had had the

den brimming with flowers, the longlow house with the cypress wood above it, and the window behindwhich his wife still slept. The month had been exquisite

they had decided on theformer. Other considerations apart, they dared not risk theexpense of a journey across the Atlantic; so they were headinginstead for the Nelson Vanderlyns' palace on the Giudecca. Theywere agreed that, for reasons of expediency, it might be wise toreturn to New York for the coming winter. It would keep them inview, and probably lead to fresh opportunities; indeed, Susyalready

use of Susy. He had meant,when they married, to be as philosophic for her as for himself;and he knew s

s course. There werethings a fellow put up with for the sake of certain definite andotherwise unattainable advantages; there were other things hewouldn't traffic with at any price. But for a woman, he beganto see, it might be different. The temptations might begreater, the cost considerably higher, the dividing line betweenthe "mays" and "mustn'ts" more fluctuating and less sharplydrawn. Susy, thrown on the world at seventeen, with only a weakwastrel of

ad hitherto beenexposed to; but what if others, more subtle, found a joint init? Was there, among her delicate discriminations, anyequivalent to his own rules? Might not h

"chance"; but what if, when hers came, he couldn't agree withher in recognizing it? He wanted for her, oh, so passionately,th

rom the landing he laidhold of the mooring rope of Streffy's boat and floated there,following his drea

veragain be as sweet as this. And then they had only a year

tennis rackets on the stairs; on the landing, the cook Giuliettahad both arms around a slippery hold-all that refused to letitself be strapped. It all gave him a chill sense of unrea

the breakfastthings, and presently looked up to say: "Yes, I believe we canjust manage it.""Manage what?""To catch the train at Milan--if we start in the motor at tensharp."He stared. "The motor? What motor?""Why, the new people's--Streffy's tenants. He's never told metheir name, and the

grown to shrink from even such harmless evidence of heralways knowing how to "manage"? "Oh, well," he said to himself,"she's right: the fellow would be sure to be going to Milan."Upstairs, on the way to his dressing room, he found her in acloud of finery which her skilful hands were forciblycompressing into a last portmanteau. He had never seen anyonepack as cleverly as Susy: the way she coaxed reluctant thingsinto a trunk was a symbol of the way she fitted discordant factsinto her lif

there is to be solemn about. The cigars are not Streffy'seither ... you may be sure he got them out of some bounder. Andther

e to that!"Lansing looked away from her at the waves of lace and muslinfrom which she emerged like a rosy Nereid. "How many boxes ofthem are left?""Only four.""Unpack them, please."Be

pped.""Give me the key, then.""We might send them back from Venice, mightn't we? That

he puzzled eyes of Giulietta and the sardonicgrin of the chauffeur, who now and th

of the floor, pale camelliasfloated in the alabaster tazzas between the windows, hauntingscents of the garden blew in on him with the breeze from thelake. Never had Streffy's little house seemed so like a nest ofpleasures. Lansing laid the cigar boxes on a console and

as he jumped inbeside her and the motor whirled