USHERS IN THE MODERN SPIRIT "So you have seen her," Adams had remarked the same afternoon, as he walked with Trent in the direction of Broadway.

"Do you walk up, by the way?
I always manage to get in a bit of exercise at this hour." As Trent fell in with his companion's rapid step, he seemed to be moving in a fine golden glow of enthusiasm.

A light icy drizzle had turned the snow upon the pavement into sloppy puddles of water, but to the young man, fresh from his inexperience, the hour and the scene alike were of exhilarating promise.
"I feel as if I had been breathing different air!" he exclaimed, without replying directly to the question.

"And yet how simple she is--how utterly unlike the resplendent Mrs.Bridewell--" He stopped breathlessly, overcome by his excitement, and Adams took up the unfinished sentence almost tenderly.

"So far, of course, she is merely a beautiful promise, a flower in the bud," he said.