gentlemen who give a great deal of trouble and never a
tip--unless, that is, they are absolutely forced to do so by common
custom.

In Germany a gentleman who was always lunching and dining at a house
would, by that common custom, have been compelled to tip the
servants--not so in this hospitable but foolish, ill-regulated England.
Here people only tip when they sleep. Anna had always thought it an
extremely unfair arrangement. Now Major Guthrie, though he was an
Englishman, had lived enough in Germany to know what was right and
usual, and several times, in the last few years, he had presented Anna
with half a sovereign. This had naturally made her like him more than
she would otherwise have done.

* * * * *

There came another ring at the door. This time it was Miss Forsyth, and
there was quite a kindly smile on her face. "Well," she said, "well,
Mrs. Bauer?" (she had never been as familiar with Anna as were most of
Mrs. Otway's friends). "I have come to find something for Mrs. Ot---- I
mean Mrs. Guthrie. She has given me the key of her desk." And she went
through into the drawing-room.

Anna began moving about restlessly. Her tin trunk was packed, and all
ready to be moved to Miss Forsyth's. And Mrs. Otway, busy as she had
been and absorbed in her own affairs while in town, had yet remembered
to stipulate that one of the large cupboards in Anna's bedroom should
remain locked, and full of Anna's things.

It was now nearly one o'clock. What could have happened to her business
visitor? And then, just as she was thinking this for the hundredth time,
she heard the unmistakable sound of a motor coming slowly down the road
outside. Quickly she went out to the back door.

The motor was a small, low, open car, and without surprise she saw that
the man who now was getting out of it was the same person whom she had
seen in the autumn leaving Alfred Head's house. But this time there was
no Boy Scout--the stranger was alone.

He hurried towards her. "Am I speaking to Mrs. Bauer?" he asked, in a
sharp, quick tone. And then, as she said "Yes," and dropped a little
curtsey, he went on: "I had a breakdown--a most tiresome thing! But I
suppose it makes no difference? You have the house to yourself?"

She hesitated--was she bound to tell him of the two gentlemen who were
having their luncheon in the dining-room which overlooked the garden,
and of Miss Forsyth in the drawing-room? She decided that