“Give me temperament, then—­and let some other fellow take the common sense,” mused Arthur Chester to himself.  “Ellen has both, and Red’s in luck.  It was a great day for him when the lovely young widow came his way—­and he knows it.  What a home she makes him—­what a home!”

His eyes roved about the beautiful living room, as they had often done before.  His own home, next door, was comfortable and more than ordinarily attractive, but he knew of no spot in the town which possessed the subtle charm of this in which he sat.  His wife, Winifred, was always trying to reproduce within their walls the indefinable quality which belonged to everything Ellen touched, and always saying in despair, “It’s no use—­Ellen is Ellen, and other people can’t be like her.”

“Better let it go at that,” her husband sometimes responded.  “You’re good enough for me.”  Which was quite true, for Winifred Chester was a peculiarly lovable young woman.  He noted afresh to-night that beside Martha Macauley’s somewhat heavy good looks Winifred seemed a creature of infinite and delightful variety.

Perhaps the music had made them all more or less analytic, for in an interval James Macauley, comfortably ensconced in a great winged chair for which he was accustomed to steer upon entering this room, where he was nearly as much at home as within his own walls, remarked, “What is there about music like that that sets you to thinking everybody in sight is about the best ever?”

“Does it have that effect on you?” queried Burns, lazily, from the blue couch.  “That’s a good thing for a fellow of a naturally critical disposition.”

“Critical, am I?  Why, within a week I paid you the greatest compliment in my power.”

“Really!”

“If it hadn’t been for me this company would never have been gathered, to listen to these wondrous strains.”

“How’s that?” Burns turned on him a suddenly interested eye.

“Oh, I’m not telling.  It’s enough that the thing came about.”  Macauley looked around for general approbation.

Red Pepper sat up.  “It was you stood the poor beggar up under my window, on that howling night, was it, Jim?  I’ve been looking for the man that did it.”

“Why,” said Macauley comfortably, “the chap asked me to point him to a doctor’s office—­said he had a bit of a cold.  I said you were the one and only great and original M.D. upon earth, and as luck would have it he was almost at your door.  I said that if he didn’t find you in he should come over to my house and we would fix him up with cough drops.  He thanked me and passed on.  As luck would have it you were in.”

Red Pepper glared at him.  A chuckle from Arthur Chester caused him to turn his eyes that way.  He scrutinized his guests in turn, and detected signs of mirth.  Winifred Chester’s pretty shoulders were shaking.  Martha Macauley’s lips were pressed close together.  The others were all smiling.