at I 'am up' and leaving this place with
my ward, Miss Stannard. Good-morning." He lifted Pansy with infinite
courtesy from her chair, took her hand, strolled to the counter, threw
down a gold piece, and passing the table of the astonished fair one with
an inflated breast, swept with Pansy out of the shop. In the street he
paused, bidding the child go on; and then, finding he was not followed
by the woman's escort, rejoined his little companion.

For a few moments they walked silently side by side. Then Pansy's
curiosity, getting the better of her pout, demanded information. She had
applied a child's swift logic to the scene. The colonel was angry, and
had punished the woman for something. She drew closer to his side, and
looking up with her big eyes, said confidentially.

"What had she been a-doing?"

The colonel was amazed, embarrassed, and speechless. He was totally
unprepared for the question, and as unable to answer it. His abrupt
departure from the shop had been to evade the very truth now demanded of
him. Only a supreme effort of mendacity was left him. He wiped his brow
with his handkerchief, coughed, and began deliberately:--

"The--er--lady in question is in the habit of using a scent
called--er--patchouli, a--er--perfume exceedingly distressing to me.
I detected it instantly on her entrance. I wished to avoid it--without
further contact. It is--er--singular but accepted fact that some people
are--er--peculiarly affected by odors. I had--er--old cherished friend
who always--er--fainted at the odor of jasmine; and I was intimately
acquainted with General Bludyer, who--er--dropped like a shot on the
presentation of a simple violet. The--er--habit of using such perfumes
excessively in public," continued the colonel, looking down upon the
innocent Pansy, and speaking in tones of deadly deliberation, "cannot be
too greatly condemned, as well as the habit of--er--frequenting
places of public resort in extravagant costumes, with--er--individuals
who--er--intrude upon domestic privacy. I trust you will eschew such
perfumes, places, costumes, and--er--companions FOREVER and--ON ALL
OCCASIONS!" The colonel had raised his voice to his forensic emphasis,
and Pansy, somewhat alarmed, assented. Whether she entirely accepted the
colonel's explanation was another matter.

The incident, although not again alluded to, seemed to shadow the
rest of their brief afternoon holiday, and the colonel's manner was
unmistakably grav