Page:Harold Macgrath--The girl in his house.djvu/97

 his intention of settling down and becoming a stay-at-home, she must search around among the younger women to find him a suitable wife. A normal married woman can no more tolerate a handsome eligible bachelor than she can tolerate poison in the nursery. Armitage's doom was sealed then and there. And what appealed to Betty most strongly was the fact that it would be the most romantic thing she had ever heard of.

A pleasant hour and a half was idled away at one of the popular restaurants on Broadway. There was a little dancing, just enough to show Armitage that he had entirely lost track of the game. But Doris was interested. Her little feet kept patting time to the music. She confessed that she had never known the exhilaration of a waltz. And Armitage, gazing at her beauty, considered that it would be an exceedingly pleasurable task to be her instructor.

An idea formed and grew in his head, too; it haunted him all the rest of the day, followed him into bed that night, and made havoc of his dreams. Thereafter this idea became an obsession. Arguments were