In one corner of the room there was a large portfolio such as artists use for their proofs and sketches; and from this he took a dozen twelve-by-fourteen-inch photographs of beautiful women, most of them stage beauties of bygone years.

The one on top happened to be Patti.

The adorable Patti!...

Linda, Violetta, Lucia.
Lord, what a nightingale she had been! He laughed laid the photograph on the desk, and dipped his hand into a canvas bag filled with polished green stones which would have great commercial value if people knew more about them; for nothing else in the world is quite so beautifully green.
He built tiaras above the lovely head and laid necklaces across the marvellous throat.

Suddenly a phenomenon took place.