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u must not be surprised if I have to employ force to get him out, for
he must go whether he wants to or not. It would never do in the world to
allow the morals of our place to become contaminated by the presence of
such creatures, so come on."

As they neared the card room they heard female voices raised in
entreaty, saying: "Oh, Mr. Edwards, please do show us. We are at the
mercy of all the society people and they put on such airs. We do not
know how to play poker, and they cannot see what kind of training we
have had. If you do refuse we shall never be happy, for we shall be
forever shut out of good society."

Much more and in many different voices was said, until it seemed that
the person to whom the appeals were made consented. Then there was a
chorus of thanks. By this time the leader of the smart set and the
newspaper man were in the room.

They stood and gazed at the scene before them. There were tables all
around the room. Players were seated at nearly all of them. The young
man noted that some played whist, others preferred euchre, while still
others played seven-up and beggar-my-neighbor and other old and
innocuous games, but many were playing poker. The cards were all right
but there was a total absence of chips or money. All the betting was
done with pebbles. The players were totally oblivious to everything
going on around them.

The professional gambler was pointed out to the director of the
ceremonies and he stood a little while looking at the man he was to put
out. He was by all odds the biggest ghost there. His shoulders were
broad and his arms long and massive. The leader stood thinking whether
it would be quite safe to argue with him. He had always been a man of
peace, and the only battles he had ever fought were those pertaining to
matters of dispute in the social ranks above ground. He had been
peacemaker there so often that he sometimes wondered that they had not
killed each other off like Kilkenny cats. So he watched the gambler, and
waited until he should do something which he might claim to be against
the rules governing the conduct of affairs in this card room.

One or two of the oldest whist players came to him and endeavored to
convince him that it was his duty to interfere before the professional
gambler had contaminated the minds of the lady ghosts by his presence.
These ladies were preparing to learn to play poker. But each time that
he looked at the giant proportions of this ghost the leader felt that it
was not his business to interfere. If they wanted to learn what did it
matter to him? Finally, at the urgent requests of the others, he plucked
up courage and strode over to Edwards with all the superhuman dignity of
a hopelessly small man, and with an air that admitted of no discussion,
said:

"Sir; I hear that you are a professional gambler. If that is so I must
request you to retire from the presence of these ladies. This is a very
exclusive part of the underground world-"

"Are you St. Peter?" asked Edwards, quietly.

"No: but I have been requested to see that nobody of questionable
antecedents is admitted, as it is intended for the best class-I hope you
will go quietly. There are ladies present and I do not wish to proceed
to extreme measures. Otherwise I shall be obliged to put you out."

"Did you say that to me?" asked Edwards with ominous politeness. "For,
if you did, I have this to reply. I am not in the habit of taking orders
from anyone. But, if you still desire to try, I advise your friends to
bring a basket. For, if you lay a hand on me there won't be a bone of
you left big enough to make a toothpick of. Now, run along, little man
and don't bother me. I am at the service of these ladies, and don't you
forget it."

Saying this the big ghost of Edwards turned his back on the pompous
little man, giving his undivided attention to the ladies who had asked
him to teach them the noble and elevating game of poker. After one more
comprehensive glance at the massive proportions of the man before him,
the leader concluded that discretion was the better part of valor. He
scarcely saw how he could back down from the position he had taken
without a loss of dignity. His distress was so evident that the
newspaper man felt really sorry for him. He knew that this man held a
high position in the esteem of the ghosts and wished to help him. So he
came to his rescue in this way:

"I do not think he will do much harm, and if a sort of private watch is
kept on him, why, then, if he does anything offensive to good taste it
will be time to act. If you are willing I will stay here and if anything
is wrong I can report to you. What do you think?"

"So well of it that I will at once retire to the smoking room at the
right of the entrance, and there you will find me if anything
objectionable occurs."

Saying this the little great man went out and the reporter prepared
himself to be amused beyond anything he had ever felt. He even expected
to get more fun out of the affair than Edwards himself.

There were six lady ghosts, and they crowded around the big gambler
endeavoring to console him for the unpleasantness that had just
occurred. All, with one accord agreed that the society leader would do
well to mind his own business. He was well enough to plan the banquet
and get up the decorations but when he undertook to spy on them and
dictate what they should do, they wanted him to understand that they
were not of the wonderful 400 and didn't want to be. They thought
themselves too good, so there!

The six ladies then took seats at one of the tables.

One might think that these six ghosts might look exactly alike, but not
so, for every one had as distinct a personality as though she had not
been dead so long that nothing remained but bones. But there was a sort
of emanation of some indefinable kind; an atmosphere of some occult
property that took the place of flesh and body. In some curious and
inexplicable way this gave to each skeleton a separate individuality.
Even the lay mind could understand this, and the newspaper man could
tell the ghosts apart perfectly well.

One of these women was very small, and was clearly as pugnacious as a
sparrow and as tenacious as one. The next one was a woman of the stately
kind. The third was quite an old one, judging by her teeth, and sitting
beside her was one with such beautiful teeth as he had never seen but
once, and the sight quite unnerved him, too, for they belonged to the
young girl whose wedding had brought him to this strange carnival of
ghosts. The sight gave him an agonizing wrench of pain. He wondered how
long it would be before she would be like these women, with nothing left
of her sweet young beauty but her white and even teeth.

This ghost had a way of holding her head to one side and raising her
hollow eyeless sockets in what was once a most effective attitude, but
it was now but the travesty of itself. The sight filled the young man
with deep pity. This ghost was a widow.

 "Did you say that to me?"

Th

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