[Illustration: LOLA CONFESSES HER LOVE FOR DICK FENWAY.]
Left alone to wait for their return, Lola moved curiously about, looking at everything with great interest. How nice it was all going to be, to always be surrounded by beautiful objects. Dick was going to be very good to her, she was sure of that, quite sure of her power over him. He was a good fellow; he had never thrilled her as John had done, for a moment, that very afternoon, but John was a prude; she never would have been able to endure life with him.
How silly of her to have hesitated. She should have left home long ago. She had supposed that it would almost break her heart, but she did not seem to care at all. She must remember that. Nothing ever really mattered, after all, if one had the courage to do as one pleased. Something always happened to make things all right.
She was glad when she came to think of it that Dick was not in a position to marry her at once. She might find that he bored her, or that he was not as kind as she expected, and if so, why then she wouldn't marry him at all.
As she had walked down Broadway, from the subway station, a dozen men had turned and looked after her, rich, well-dressed men, some of them. After all there was no reason why a girl should worry, with the world so full of men, all of them eager to lavish their money on her. One had to be careful, of course, and she meant to be careful. She had no fear of Dick, she could manage him. John was different; if John had been a bad man she would have been afraid of him, afraid of herself, but, thank goodness, Dick was harmless. He was too wise, too experienced; his very look put her on her guard against him. What a fortunate thing it was that men were such obvious creatures, good or bad; how silly to be afraid of either sort; one only had to be a little prudent, a little clever, and perhaps a little pretty. She laughed softly to herself. She was all of these, she knew, and more. She had no fear of the world; she was not afraid; she was eager to match her strength against it. She felt perfectly safe when, a few moments later, they shot out of the side street, in Dick's big car, and turned up Broadway. It was midnight, but the great thoroughfare was thronged with automobiles--thousands of them. What a good time people had, to be sure; what a fool she had been to waste any of her precious youth in the dull life of her old home. She was only just twenty, after all, she thought happily, and she had a lot of time yet in which to be young and gay.