A tall girl burst into the room, dropping an armful of books, and sprang to Miss Reid.
"Kitty! Kitty!" she cried, in a voice of wonderful music. "Two camera fiends! One in front of the college, the other by the elevated station; waiting for me to pass, I do believe! And such crowds! They followed me! Look! Look! Down in the Square!"
CHAPTER II.
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD.
Both girls ran to the window. Miss Reid laughed teasingly. "I see nobody—or all the world; it's much the same," she said; "but you have a caller."
I rose from behind the desk with some confused, trivial thought that I ought to have spent part of the afternoon getting my hair cut.
I had had but a glimpse of the new comer in her flight across the floor; I knew she had scarlet lips and shining eyes; that youth and joy and unimagined beauty had entered with her like a burst of sunlight and flooded the room. I felt, rather than saw, that she had turned from the window and was looking at me, curiously at first, then smiling. Her smile had bewildered me when she opened the door; it was a soft, flashing light that shone from her face and blessed the air. She seemed surrounded by an aureole.
But she—how could this wonderful girl know me?—she surely was smiling! She was coming towards me. She was putting out her hands. That glorious voice was speaking.
"John! Is it you? I'm so glad!" it said.