the next corner,” she said, and walked smartly away. “Some one should write a novel about a woman like that,” he explained urgently. “She ought to be painted. It is amazing the sufficiency of soul that goes with that type. There aren’t many like her. She could be the sensation again of Paris if she wanted to--would try. But she won’t. See what she said of her voice just now.” He shook his head. I smiled approvingly, for obviously the appearance of the woman--her full, rich eyes--bore him out. She was a figure of distinction in this restaurant world; for many knew her and kept track of her. I watched her from time to time talking with the guests of one table and another, and the chemical content which made her exceptional was as obvious as though she were a bottle and bore a label. To this day she stands out in my mind in her simple dress and indifferent manner as perhaps the one forceful, significant figure that I saw in all the cafés of Paris or elsewhere. [Illustration: I looked to a distant table to see the figure he indicated] I should like to add here, before I part forever with this curious and feverish Parisian restaurant world, that my conclusion had been, after much and careful observation, that it was too utterly feverish, artificial and exotic not to be dangerous and grimly destructive if not merely touched upon at long intervals. This world of champagne drinkers was apparently interested in but two things--the flare and glow of the restaurants, which were always brightly lighted and packed with people--and women. In the last analysis women, the young women of easy virtue, were the glittering attraction; and truly one might say they were glittering. Fine feathers make fine birds, and nowhere more so than in Paris. But there were many birds who would have been fine in much less showy feathers. In many instances they craved and secured a demure simplicity which was even more destructive than the flaring costumes of the demi-monde. It was strange to see American innocence--the products of Petoskey, Michigan, and Hannibal, Missouri, cheek by jowl with the most daring and the most vicious women which the great metropolis could produce. I did not know until some time later how hard some of these women were, how schooled in vice, how weary of everything save this atmosphere of festivity and the privilege of wearing beautiful clothes.