Harlson, at this time, had apartments very near me, and we invaded each other’s rooms at will, and were a mutual comfort to each other, and a help—­at least I know that he was all this to me.  I have never yet seen a man so strong and self-reliant or secretive—­save some few who were misers or recluses, and not of the real world—­who, if there were no woman for him, would not tell things to some one man.  We two knew each other, and counted on each other, and while I could not do as much for him as he for me, I could try as hard.  He knew that.

“Eh, but she’s winsome!”

He went to the mantel, took a cigar, and lit it, and turned to me indignantly: 

“You smoke-producing dolt, why are you silent?  Didn’t you hear my earnest comment?  Where is the trace of good behavior you once owned?”

“Who’s winsome?”

“She, I tell you!  She—­the girl I met to-night.  And you sit there and inhale the fumes of a weed, and are no more stirred by my announcement than the belching chimney of an exposition by the fair display around it!”

“You big, driveling idiot, how can I know what you are talking about?  You come in with an obscure outburst of enthusiasm over something,—­a woman, I infer,—­and because the particular tone, and direction, and mood of your insanity is not recognized within a moment, you descend to personalities.  If your distemper has left you reason enough for the comprehension of words, sit down and tell me about it.  Who’s winsome?  What’s winsome?  And have you been to a banquet?”

“There is a degree of reason in what you say—­that is, from the point of a clod.  I’ll tell you.  I’ve met a woman.”

“I dare say.  There are a number in town, I understand.”

“Spoken in the vein of your dullness.  A person not sodden with nicotine and dreams would have recognized the fact that I had met a Woman, one deserving a large W whenever her name is spelled, a woman of the sort to make one think that all poems are not trickery, and all romances not romance.”

“What’s her name?”

“Do you suppose I’ll tell you, you scheming wife-hunter!  If I do, you’ll get an introduction somehow, and then you’ll win her, for I’m afraid she has good sense.”

And Harlson laughed and looked down in the brotherly way he had.

“But this is nonsense.  Why don’t you tell me something about her?  Is she fat and fifty and rich, or bread-and-buttery and white-skinned and promising, or twenty and just generally fair to look upon, or twenty-five and piquant and knowing, or some big, red-haired lioness, or some yellow-haired, blue-eyed innocent, with good digestion and premature maternal ways, or——­”

“Rot!  She’s a woman, I tell you!”

“All right.  Answer questions now categorically.”

“Go ahead.”

“How old is she?”

“Twenty-seven or eight.”

“Married?”