your pardon," -- he bowed gravely. "Miss
Lingard," he went on, "is an absolutely
trustful heart. She has not learned the hard
lessons of life. As for you and me, _noblesse_
_oblige,"_ -- he watched me narrowly.

Lena returned with the vest. "Come in
and let us look at you as you go out, Mr.
Ordinsky. I've never seen you in your dress
suit," she said as she opened the door for him.

A few moments later he reappeared with
his violin case -- a heavy muffler about his
neck and thick woolen gloves on his bony
hands. Lena spoke encouragingly to him, and
he went off with such an important, profes-
sional air, that we fell to laughing as soon as
we had shut the door. "Poor fellow," Lena
said indulgently, "he takes everything so
hard."

After that Ordinsky was friendly to me,
and behaved as if there were some deep un-
derstanding between us. He wrote a furious
article, attacking the musical taste of the
town, and asked me to do him a great service
by taking it to the editor of the morning paper.
If the editor refused to print it, I was to tell
him that he would be answerable to Ordin-
sky "in person." He declared that he would

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v?