At 8.30 on this special mornin' there I am, as I said; and at 2.21 P.M. the same day I'm---- Well, of course, there was a few preliminaries, though I didn't tag 'em as such when they come along. I expect the new spring costume helped some. And the shave--oh, I was goin' it strong! No cut-price, closing-out, House-of-Smartheimer bargain, altered free to fit--not so, Lobelia! Why, I pawed over whole bales of stuff in a sure-enough Fifth-ave. tailor works; had blueprint plans of the front and side elevations drawn, even to the number of buttons on the cuffs, and spent three diff'rent noon hours havin' it modeled on me before they could pull a single bastin' thread. But it's some stream line effect at the finish, take it from me! Nothing sporty or cake-walky, you understand: just quiet and dignified and rich-like, same as any second vice or gen'ral manager would wear. Two-button sack with wide English roll and no turn-up to the trousers--oh, I should ripple! The shave was an afterthought. I'd worked up to it by havin' some of my lurid locks trimmed, and as Giuseppe quits shearin' and asks if there'll be anything else I rubs my hand casual across my jaw and remarks: "Could you find anything there to mow with a razor?" Could he? He'd go through the motions on a glass doorknob! Then it's me tilted back with my heels up and the suds artist decoratin' my map until it looks like a Polish weddin' cake. Don't it hit you foolish the first time, though? I felt like everybody in the shop, includin' the brush boy and the battery of lady manicures, was all gathered around pipin' me off as a raw beginner. So I stares haughty at the ceilin' and tries to put on a bored look. I'd been scraped twice over, and was just bein' unwrapped from the hot towel, when I turns to see who it is has camped down in the next chair, and finds Mr. Robert gazin' at me curious. "Why!" says he, chucklin'. "If it isn't Torchy! Indulging in a shave, eh?" "Oh, no, Sir," says I. "Been havin' my eye teeth tested for color blindness, that's all." Mr. Robert grins amiable and reaches out for the check. "This is on me then," says he. "I claim the privilege." As he comes in after luncheon he has to stop and grin again; and later on, when I answers the buzzer, he makes me turn clear around so he can inspect the effect and size up the new suit. "Excellent, Torchy!" says he. "Whoever your tailor may be, you do him credit." "This trip I paid cash, though," says I. "It's all right, is it?" "In every particular," says he. "Why, you look almost grown up. May I ask the occasion? Can it be that Miss Verona is on the point of returning from somewhere or other?" "Uh-huh," says I. "Bermuda. Got in yesterday." "And Aunty, I trust," goes on Mr. Robert, "is as well as usual?" "I'm hoping for the worst," says I; "but I expect she is."