,' he persisted.

'Please,' as her lips proceeded to form a negative.

'Some one would see us, and Lady Chisworth would declare war.'

'Then let us dine in some obscure restaurant in Soho.'

'There's no such thing, old dear. Soho is always full of the best
people dining incog. Almost the only place where you are free from
your friends is Claridge's.'

'Well'--his nose crinkled at her remark--'then let us go to Claridge's.
Miss Durwent, I know I'm too persistent, but it would be a wonderful
ending to a bully day. You know you'll be bored at Lady Chisworth's,
and I shall be if you don't come.'

'Humph!' She stood on the first of the stone steps, her agile
gracefulness lending itself to the picture of healthy, roseate youth.

'Where could we meet?'

'Let me call for you.'

'N-no. That wouldn't do.'

'Would your mother object?'

'Heavens, no!--but the servants would. You see, English morality is
largely living up to your servants--and we met only last night.'

'But you will come?' He crossed his hands behind his back and swung
the crop against his boots.

'Mr. Selwyn,' she said, 'your books should be very interesting.'

'From now on they will be,' he said, 'if'----

'All right,' she interrupted him with something of the staccato
mannerism of the evening before. 'I'll motor down in my little car,
and we'll go to the Cafe Rouge.'

'Good--wherever that may be.'

'No one has discovered it yet but me,' she said. 'Then I shall have a
headache at four, and meet you outside Oxford Circus Tube at seven.'

'You're a real sport, Miss Durwent.'

'Ah, monsieur'--she smiled with a roguishness that completely unsettled
him for the remainder of the day--'have you no sympathy for my
headache?'

CHAPTER VII.

THE CAFE ROUGE.

I.

Monsieur Anton Beauchamp was the proprietor of the Cafe Rouge in
London. Monsieur Anton Beauchamp was once proprietor of the Cafe Bleu
in Paris.

For many years he had cast envious eyes on London. Did not always his
guests, those strange blonde people with the clothes like blankets, pay
his prices without question? Did they not drink bad wine and never add
the bill? _Pardi_! if he could have only English as patrons, madame
and himself could purchase that wine-shop in the Bou' Mich', and never
worry again.

For years the thought of London haunted Anton; and then one day, in a
superb moment of decision, he announced his intention of journeying
thither. A large e