Women looked after him admiringly, thinking how splendid it would be to have such a man for a lover. Howard heeded nothing of it. He was accustomed to it. He simply took it for his due, and he had other things to engross his mind now. "It can't be true, it can't be true," he said to himself, again and again in his restless walk. "It is the most undreamed of thing. Who could believe it?" And yet it troubled him despite his incredulity. It troubled him so much that he went to see a lawyer about it. He stated the case, and asked him frankly what were his chances if such a thing really should happen. "No chance at all," was the grim reply. "If you did not resign your claim, Mrs. St. John would naturally sue you for the money on behalf of the legal heir." "And then?" asked Howard. "The case would certainly go against you." Howard went out again and took another walk. He tried to fancy himself--Howard Templeton, the golden youth--face to face with the grim fiend, poverty. He wondered how it would feel to earn his dinner before he ate it, to wear out his old coats, and have to count the cost of new ones, as he had vaguely heard that poor men had to do. "I can't imagine it," he said to himself. "Time enough to bother my brain with such conundrums if the thing really comes to pass. And if it does, what a glorious triumph it will be for 'mine enemy!' I'd like to see her--by Jove, I believe I'll go there." He stopped short, filled with the new idea, then hurried on, recalled to himself by a stare of surprise from a casual passer-by. "Yes; why shouldn't I go there, by George?" he went on. "It was my home before she came there. The world doesn't know that we are 'at outs,' although we are sworn foes privately. I'll pretend to call on Lora Carroll. Lora was a pretty girl enough when I was down there that summer, young and unformed, though time has remedied that defect, doubtless. Doctor Shirley thought her handsome. Yes, I will call on little Lora. A daring thing to do, perhaps, but then I'm in the mood for daring a great deal." The lamps were lighted and the glare of the gas flared down upon him as he thus made up his mind. He went to his hotel, made an elaborate and elegant toilet, as if anxious to please, then sallied forth toward the brown-stone palace where his enemy reigned in triumph. A soft and subdued light shone through the curtains of rose-colored silk and creamy lace that shaded the windows of the drawing-room. A fancy seized upon Howard to peep through them before he went up the marble steps and sent in his card. "For who knows that they may decline to see me," he thought, "and I am determined to get one look at Xenie. I want to see if she looks very happy over her triumph." He glanced around, saw that no one was passing, and cautiously went up to the window. It was as much as he could do, tall as he was, to peer into the room by standing on tiptoe.