.

.

With pleasure; Mrs.Vendenning has bought a third-rate castle in Wales; a man was found dead with a copy of the _Tribune_ in his pocket--the verdict being in accordance with fact; the Panama Canal--" But it was over at last; a flurry of sweeping skirts; ranks of black and white in escort to the passage of the fluttering silken procession.
"Good-bye," she said; "I am not staying for the dance." "Good-bye," he said pleasantly; "I wish you better fortune for the future.

I'm sorry I was rough." He was not staying, either.

A dull excitement possessed him, resembling suspense--as though he were awaiting a denouement; as though there was yet some crisis to come.
Several men leaned forward to talk to him; he heard without heeding, replied at hazard, lighted his cigar with the others, and leaned back, his coffee before him--a smiling, attractive young fellow, apparently in lazy enjoyment of the time and place and without one care in the world he found so pleasant.
For a while his mind seemed to be absolutely blank; voices were voices only; he saw lights, and figures moving through a void.