wagging tongues. In his heart he could never conceive of Carmelita's being unfaithful to him. He knew her better than that. He stood stock still in the middle of the road while an owl hooted weirdly deep in the wood that skirted the highway and a chorus of ancient frogs croaked in a deep bass, and debated whether he shouldn't go back and apologize and take her into his arms. But his pride would hardly stand that. The kiss-bidding episode had been something no normal husband could watch with pleasure, especially considering who the lucky bidder had been, no matter how much innocent impulsiveness there had been in Carmelita's actions.
On the whole he would wait until morning before he made advances to her and tried to set himself right. Perhaps he would have some excellent news to tell her when he saw her again. He had an appointment with Chartres at ten in the morning at the Biltmore. Dudley's whole business future, the decision whether his past three months of slaving at the office had been wasted, might be decided by this meeting with Chartres.
Chartres was one of the largest manufacturers in France and he had been in America for three months for the purpose of contracting for several million feet of lumber and several thousand tons of steel for use in recon-
