A month has passed since Margaret went to see _Othello_, and New York is beginning to wake to its winter round of amusements.

There are dinners and dances and much leaving of little pasteboard chips with names and addresses.
Mr.Barker had made progress, in his own opinion, since the day when he so unfortunately roused Margaret's anger by his story.

He bethought him one day that Claudius's influence had begun with the reading of books, and he determined to try something of the kind himself.

He was no scholar as Claudius was, but he knew men who were.

He cultivated the acquaintance of Mr.Horace Bellingham, and spent studious hours in ascertaining the names of quaint and curious volumes, which he spared no expense in procuring.