His face looked like
the faun's, elfin, mischievous, happy as the springtime.
At last he dropped into a chair. Then Mary fetched her teakettle. They
quenched their thirst, she shared his cigarette, they prattled like
children. It was late before they remembered to go out in search of
dinner, hours later before they dropped asleep upon the gilded Janus-
faced couch that had become for Mary the altar of a sacrament.
IV
Mary's original furnishings had cost her less than a hundred dollars. In
the first days of their housekeeping she made several additions, and
Stefan contributed a large second-hand easel, a stool, and a piece of
strangely colored drapery for the divan. This he discovered during a walk
with Mary, in the window of an old furniture dealer, and instantly fell a
victim to. He was so delighted with it that Mary had not the heart to
veto its purchase, though it was a sad extravagance, costing them more
than a week's living expenses. The stuff was of oriental silk, shot with
a changing sheen, of colors like a fire burning over water, which made it
seem a living thing in their hands. The night they took it home Stefan
lit six candles in its honor.
In spite of these expenses Mary banked four hundred dollars, leaving
herself enough in hand for a fortnight to come, for she found that they
could live on twenty-five dollars a week.
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