"I was walking behind her on Twenty-third street. You know what wonderful hair she had. I was admiring it.
"Suddenly I saw her drop a little purse. I picked it up and handed it to her, and somehow we fell into conversation.
"Her manner mystified me. Sometimes she seemed to be laboring under some secret grief which nearly drove her to tears. In another moment she would be apparently as merry as a schoolgirl.
"She showed no reserve whatever, but something in her manner warned me that she was a lady, and I did not presume upon her confidence.
"We walked together a long while, and at last we found ourselves near that restaurant. How we came there I do not know. I paid no attention to where we were going. T was too much fascinated by my companion.
"Suddenly she said: 'It is late and I am hungry. Let us go to dinner.'
"I thought it a strange thing to say, but I was glad enough to comply. We went into that restaurant because it was right before us.
"I signed the first name that came into my head, and then Corbut showed us into the private dining-room.
"I ordered a dinner, but before it was served, I began to be a good deal surprised at my companion's behavior. She paced up and down the room, and every now and then she listened at the door which was between us and room A.
"'I have all a woman's curiosity,' she said, 'I'd like to hear what those people are saying over their dinner.'