He had once, in the school days when he was blossoming into a man of fashion, experienced a similar sensation before a cravat of pigeon-blood red. He peered through the window to see if any one he knew was present, and glanced up the street to assure himself that a mob was not going to collect. Then he entered nonchalantly. The clerk, who recognized him, greeted him with ingratiating unction. "Glad to see you here, Mr. Stover. What can I do for you?" "I thought I'd look at some shirts," he said, in what he believed a masterly haphazard manner. "White lawn--something with a thin stripe?" "Well, something in a color--solid color." He waited patiently, considering solicitously twenty inconsequential styles, until the spruce clerk, casually producing the one thing, said: "Would that appeal to you?" "It's rather nice," he said, gazing at it. Entranced, he stared on. Then a new difficulty arose. People didn't enter a shop just to purchase one shirt, and, besides, he was known. So he selected three other shirts and added the beautiful green thing to them in an unostentatious manner, saying: "Send around these four shirts, will you? What's the tax?" "Very pleased to have you open an account, Mr. Stover," said the clerk. "Pay when you like." Stover took this as a personal tribute to his public reputation. Likewise, it opened up to him startling possibilities, so he said in a bored way: "I suppose I might just as well." "Thank you, Mr. Stover--thank you very much! Anything more? Some rather tasty neckties here for conservative dressers. Collars? Something like this would be very becoming to you. We've just got in a very smart line of silk socks. All the latest bonton styles. Look them over--you don't need to buy anything." When Stover finally was shown to the door, he had clandestinely and with great astuteness acquired the green shirt on the following terms: One green shirt (imported) $ 5 Three decoy shirts 9 Four silk ties (to go with green shirt) 8 One dozen Roxburgh turndown collars (to complete same) 3 One dozen Gladstone collars (an indiscretion) 3 One half dozen silk socks (bonton style) 12 ---- Total for one green shirt $40 By the time he had made this mental calculation he was half way up the block. Then, his extravagance overwhelming him, he virtuously determined to send back the Gladstone collars, to show the clerk that, while he was a man of fashion, he still had a will of his own.