"  She  can  come  in  now,"  he  shouted.  He  folded
the  curtains  of  his  strange  bed  ;  he  lighted  a  silver
lamp,  re-arranged  his  palms,  and  smiled,  thinking  of
the  astonished  questions  when  he  invited  young  ladies
to  be  seated  among  the  numerous  cushions.  And
Mike  determined  he  would  say  that  he  considered  his
bed-room  far  too  sacred  to  admit  of  any  of  the  base
wants  of  life  being  performed  there.
It  was  well-dressed  Bohemia,  with  many  markings


78  MIKE   FLETCHER.
and  varied  with  contrasting  shades.  The  air  was  as
sugar  about  the  doorway  with  the  scent  of  gardenias  ;
young  lords  shrank  from  the  weather-stained  cloth  of
doubtful  journalists,  and  a  lady  in  long  puce  Cashmere
provoked  a  smile.  Frank  received  his  guests  with
laughter  and  epigram.
The  emancipation  of  the  women  is  marked  by  the
decline  of  the  chaperon,  and  it  was  not  clear  under
whose  protection  the  young  girls  had  come.  Beneath
double  rows  of  ruche-rose  feet  passed,  and  the  soft
glow  of  lamps  shaded  with  large  leaves  of  pale  glass
bathed  the  women's  flesh  in  endless  half  tints  ;  the
reflected  light  of  copper  shades  flushed  the  blonde
hair  on  Lady  Helen's  neck  to  auroral  fervencies.
In  one  group  a  fat  man  with  white  hair  and  faded
blue  eyes  talked  to  Mrs.  Bentham  and  Lewis  Seymour.
A  visit  to  the  Haymarket  Theatre  being  arranged,  he
said —

"  May  I  hope  to  be  permitted  to  form  one  of  the
party  ?  "

Harding  overheard  the  remark.  He  said,  "It  is
difficult  to  believe,  but  I  assure  you  that  that  Mr.
Senbrook  was  one  of  the  greatest  Don  Juans  that
ever  lived."

"We  have  in  this  room  Don  Juan  in  youth,  middle
age,  and  old  age — Mike  Fletcher,  Lewis  Seymour,  and
Mr.  Senbrook.
