He won't even have her sit to himself since she was
married."
"Of course not," rejoined Edith, emphatically. "Poor Grant! He can't be
very happy with Ninitta. She never can get the taint of Bohemia out of
her blood."
Arthur laughed and flung his cigar end into the fire.
"You speak," he said, "as if that were a hopeless poison."
He stood smiling to himself an instant. He had pushed off one slipper
and was endeavoring to pick it up, using his foot like a hand. He was
in that state of high excitement when he would have found relief in the
wildest and most boisterous actions; and it pleased him to be able
still to retain the appearance of his ordinary calm.
"Modern civilization," he observed, "consists largely in learning to
live without the use of either truth or the toes. Good-night, my dear.
I want to get a nap before the church bells begin to ring."
He stooped and kissed her, and went to his chamber. He closed the door
and began to recite with exaggerated gestures a fragment from
_Macbeth_. The varied emotions of the evening had set every nerve
quivering. He was so excited that he was not even despondent over the
collapse of Princeton Platinum stock, although this meant to him
desperate financial straits. He knew that he was in no condition to
consider anything calmly; but half the remainder of the night he tossed
upon a sleepless bed, reacting the scene at the club, reflecting upon
his narrow escape from the discovery of his relations with Ninitta,
resolving to begin her portrait at once, and thinking a thousand
confused things which made his brain seem to him filled with whirling
masses of fiery thought-clouds.
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