Our friends were not extravagant or audacious people, and they looked at Baden life very much from the outside--they sat aloof from the brightly lighted drama of professional revelry.

Among themselves as well, however, a little drama went forward in which each member of the company had a part to play.

Bernard Longueville had been surprised at first at what he would have called Miss Vivian's approachableness--at the frequency with which he encountered opportunities for sitting near her and entering into conversation.

He had expected that Gordon Wright would deem himself to have established an anticipatory claim upon the young lady's attention, and that, in pursuance of this claim, he would occupy a recognized place at her side.

Gordon was, after all, wooing her; it was very natural he should seek her society.