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 ing procession that crowded the sidewalk and congested the thoroughfares.

They reached the region of shops, and drove down on Broadway, where the buildings grew taller, and the gilt wholesale signs more aggressive. Noise and rumble all about them, yet the two sat enveloped in silence, threading their way amid the banging, pounding cable-cars, skimming by other hurrying hansoms, skilfully avoiding the heavy, jarring wheels of laden trucks.

They at last drew up before the towering front of a huge office hive, from which, busy as bees, in and out, rushed anxious business men. Elevators sped up and down with lightning swiftness; everywhere was slippery marble and wrought metal, things designed for cleanliness, durability, and hard usage, yet ornate. A strange outgrowth of luxury and utility pushed to their extreme.

As if in a dream, they were caught in the rush, and snapped into one of the elevators. Instantly they shot upward, stopping with disturbing jerks at various landings. At the ninth floor they 246