! I might have posed before your butler, perhaps, as belonging
to what you call the hatless brigade, but the mud upon my clothes,
and these unfortunate rents in my garments, would have necessitated an
explanation which I thought better avoided. I make myself quite clear, I
trust?"

"Clear?" Philippa murmured helplessly.

"Clear?" Helen echoed, with a puzzled frown.

"I mean, of course," their visitor explained, "so far as regards my
choosing this somewhat surreptitious form of entrance into your house."

Philippa shrugged her shoulders and made a determined move towards the
bell. The intruder, however, barred her way. She looked up into his
face and found it difficult to maintain her indignation. His expression,
besides being distinctly pleasant, was full of a respectful admiration.

"Will you please let me pass?" she insisted.

"Madam," he replied, "I am afraid that it is your intention to ring the
bell."

"Of course it is," she admitted. "Don't dare to prevent me."

"Madam, I do not wish to prevent you," he assured her. "A few moments'
delay--that is all I plead for."

"Will you explain at once, sir," Philippa demanded, "what you mean by
forcing your way into my house in this extraordinary fashion, and by
locking that door?"

"I am most anxious to do so," was the prompt reply. "I am correct, of
course, in my first surmise that you are Lady Cranston--and you Miss
Fairclough?" he added, bowing ceremoniously to both of them. "A very
great pleasure! I recognised you both quite easily, you see, from your
descriptions."

"From our descriptions?" Philippa repeated.

The newcomer bowed.

"The descriptions, glowing, indeed, but by no means exaggerated, of your
brother Richard, Lady Cranston, and your fiance, Miss Fairclough."

"Richard?" Philippa almost shrieked.

"You have seen Dick?" Helen gasped.

The intruder dived in his pockets and produced two sealed envelopes. He
handed one each simultaneously to Helen and to Philippa.

"My letters of introduction," he explained, with a little sigh of
relief. "I trust that during their perusal you will invite me to have
some tea. I am almost starving."

The two women hastened towards the lamp.

"One moment, I beg," their visitor interposed. "I have established, I
trust, my credentials. May I remind you that I was compelled to ensure
the safety of these few minutes' conversation with you, by locking that
door. Are you likely to be disturbed?"

"No, no! No chanc