Ranna had no desire to tie himself to a monotonous routine of teaching, though it might prove necessary if Mrs. Custerd's family continued to be tiresome about the money she gave him. To avoid such a dreary eventuality he hoped to find a more lavish patroness, possibly Mrs. Nicholas Allwood, willing to invest in delightful projects he would propose but that need not be fulfilled. Failing that, he toyed with the idea of permitting an impresario to arrange engagements for fabulous dollars, after which he would return to Paris. Now, with this ravishing one in his arms, her breath sweet as fruit blossom, he wanted nothing but to continue her presence, even at the risk of offending Mrs. Custerd who had expressed dislike of her. If teaching would be a means to the end of love, he would indeed be a teacher.
"It would give me the greatest pleasure if you would allow me to teach you the dance of my country," he said.
"I'm really very interested because I admire your art," she said, conscious of the quivering of his fingertips.
"I will make for you the dance of a Hindu princess playing with the birds in the pleasure gardens of Kashmir. Will you come to my studio for tea Wednesday, and we will talk about it?"
"That's matinee day—but I could Thursday."
"So long? Why not Tuesday?"
"That's fine," she said, to their mutual satisfaction.
Then she saw that Vida was talking at a great clip to, of all persons, Paul Vermillion. Just like him to turn up when he wasn't expected, and in white tie and tails! She was missing something.
"Do you mind if we don't dance this one?" she said, and started off the floor with a haste most disconcerting to Ranna.
"What are you all jabbering about?" she demanded, moving her chair close to Paul's in what Vida thought too proprietary a manner.
"I've been telling Mr. Vermillion about Ilona's ideas on the dance."
"What's so funny about that?" Vida oughtn't drink any more, she wasn't used to it.
"She told a new pupil this afternoon that a pure dancer thinks with her muscles, not her mind. That the mind has no place in the dance. That the dance is the spirit of the spirit within the pelvic circle."
"You're making that up because you don't like Ilona," said Lucy, annoyed because it made Vermillion smile.
"I'm not, I couldn't. She talks like that now, ever since a com-
