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 Herbert Ringrose was fortuitously the first to arrive and he joined Ambrose at once.

I came early to look out for you, he said. I knew Imperia would never be down.

Ambrose thanked him for his solicitude.

Well, Ringrose continued effusively, getting to be quite a citizen, aren't you? We'll be taking you up to see Schwarzstein now in a few days and have you sworn in regularly as a deputy sheriff.

Other guests straggled in. Some of the men were extremely handsome, at least as handsome as the models who posed to advertise golf clothes, Ambrose thought. Others, surprisingly, were more rugged in appearance. The women, however, were all of an epic pulchritude, some clad in indescribably fantastic garments, blazing with jewels, some, perhaps to attract attention, garbed in the extreme of simplicity without any jewels at all. As they entered they were introduced to him and each made some pretty speech about his play, although not one of them, apparently, had seen it. Absolutely ignorant of this strange world, he was not able to reciprocate with any definiteness. Smiling nervously through the ordeal, for the most part he remained silent.