Her first waking thought was not of Lindaberry, but of Massingale. It seemed as if he were beside her, his restraining touch on her arm, trouble in his eyes, as on the night before when he had pleaded with her under the hissing arc-lights and the background of curious creatures of the dark. Instead, it was Ida Summers, curled on the bed, who was tickling her arm with a feather, crying: "Wake up, lazy-bones!" Doré comprehended, even in her foggy state, that if such a reproach could come from Ida Summers, it must be very late indeed! She shot a hasty glance at the tower clock; it was nearing twelve. "Any broken bones? What happened? You're a nice one! Why didn't you come back? Don't lecture me any more!" continued Ida, in rapid fire, and emphasizing her remarks by pinching the toes under the covers. "Poor Harry Benson! pining away, one eye on the door and one on the clock! Which reminds me--he's coming for lunch." Harry Benson had been the youngest and most susceptible of Doré's abandoned escorts. "Oh, is that his name?" "Heartless creature!" continued Ida, rolling her eyes. "Three automobiles, shover, father a patent-medicine king. I might have married him, Do, if you hadn't popped up! However, this is my business day; I forgot. How'm I going to get hold of Zip?" "So that's the game?" said Doré, laughing for reasons that will appear. "Be careful how you do it, though; Mr. Benson strikes me as a very _rapid_ advancer!" "Yes, Miss Pussy," exclaimed Ida, laughing; "you give very good advice--in the morning. However, I just must have a fur muff I saw yesterday, and that's all there is to it! Also, my room's too small for visitors, so get up and dress, as I'm going to receive him here. What's Zip's telephone?" "You'll find it on the pad," said Doré, rising precipitately. "Good, the bait's planted," said Ida, presently reappearing. "I told Zip to be most _oxpensive_; Benson's a fierce spender!" "How do you know?" "A girl friend of mine," said Ida evasively. "What's become of that little fellow you annexed at the _Free Press_?" "Tony Rex? Bothers the life out of me. Got it bad! Sighs and poetry. Jealous as a Turk! Doesn't want me to pose--wants to shut me up in a convent. Lord! I don't know how to shake him!" "I thought him rather insignificant," said Doré, at the dressing-table. "Nothing of the sort!" said Ida vigorously. "Every one says he's a coming man--ideas, humor, massive brain, you know, and all that sort of thing. Only--only, he gets in the way all the time--trip over him. Well, are you going to give an account of yourself last night? Say, what a shame it is some squillionaire doesn't endow us! It's such a nuisance getting your clothes!" As she forgot a question as soon as she asked it, she was off on a digression. "I say, Dodo, it's a marvel how some girls do manage! You remember Adèle Vickers, who's in light opera?" "Chorus," corrected Doré.