"That," replied Algarcife, "is a fiend in woman's form, who makes night hideous. I can't begin to work until she sings herself hoarse, and she doesn't do that until midnight. Verily, she is possessed of seven devils, and singing devils at that." Mr. Nevins was listening attentively. His irritability had vanished. "Why, it's Mariana!" he exclaimed. "Bless her pretty throat! An hour of Mariana is worth all the spoken or unspoken thoughts of--of Marcus Aurelius, to say nothing of Solomon." Mr. Paul closed his book and looked up gravely. "A worthy young woman," he observed, "though a trifle fast. As for Solomon, his wisdom has been greatly exaggerated." "Fast!" protested Mr. Nevins. "She's as fast as--as Mr. Paul--" "Your insinuation is absurd," returned Mr. Paul, stiffly. But Mr. Nevins was not to be suppressed. "Then don't display your ignorance of such matters. As for this St. Anthony, he thinks every woman who walks the New York streets a bleached pattern of virtue. I don't believe he'd know a painted Jezebel unless she wore a scarlet letter." Anthony turned upon him resentfully. "Confound it, Nevins," he said, "I am not a born fool!" "Only an innocent," retorted Mr. Nevins, complacently. A resounding rap upon the panels of the door interrupted them. Mr. Nevins rose. "That's Ardly," he said. "He and I are doing New York to-night." Ardly came inside, and stood with his hand upon the door-knob. "Come on, Nevins," he said. "I've got to do a column on that new _danseuse_. She dances like a midge, but, by Jove! she has a figure to swear by--" "And escape perjury," added Mr. Nevins. "Mariana says it is false." "Mariana," replied Ardly, "is a sworn enemy to polite illusions. She surveys the stage through a microscope situated upon the end of a lorgnette. It is a mistake. One should never look at a woman through glasses unless they be rose-colored ones. A man preserves this principle, and his faith in plumpness and curves along with it; a woman penetrates to the padding and powder. Come on, Nevins." Mr. Nevins followed him into the hall, and then turned to look in again. "Algarcife, won't you join us on a jolly little drunk? Won't you, Mr. Paul?" When they had gone, and Mr. Paul had gone likewise, though upon a different way, Anthony heated the coffee, drank two cups, and resumed his work. "Taken collectively," he remarked, "the human race is a consummate nuisance. What a deuced opportunity for work the last man will have--only, most likely, he'll be an ass." The next day he passed Mariana on the stairs without seeing her. He was returning from the college laboratory, and his mind was full of his experiments. Later in the afternoon, when he watered his plants, he turned his can, in absent-minded custom, upon the geranium, and saw that there was a scarlet bloom among the leaves. The sight pleased him. It was as if he had given sustenance to a famished life.