in the entrance hall of the
hotel. It was characteristic of him that he wore evening dress, though
a number of the other guests did not, but it displayed his fine,
symmetrical figure. He was a handsome, soldierly man, with a boldness
of manner which sometimes passed for dash and sometimes prejudiced
fastidious people against him. Now he was watching Millicent, whom he
admired, with a smile.

"I didn't know you and Mrs. Keith were leaving the _Frontenac_ until
you had gone," he said, and his tone suggested that he wished to
explain why he had not accompanied them. "You didn't give me an
opportunity of speaking to you until just now, but I noticed that you
looked disturbed at dinner."

"I daresay I did," Millicent answered ruefully.

"I should be distressed to think there was any serious cause for it."

Millicent laughed. "Mrs. Keith believes it's serious enough, and I'm
in disgrace. One of the animals bit the bob-cat, and now the
creature's missing."

"A catastrophe! But does the absurd old woman hold you responsible for
her ferocious pets?"

"I was told to see that her maid took the unfortunate animal to a
veterinary surgeon. Judkins was frankly mutinous, the hotel porters
were busy with some baggage, and there was not a cab on the rank. I
told her to put the basket down while she looked for a hack near the
station; and then crossed the street as I saw one coming. When I got
back the basket had gone, but a boy gave me a note on a scrap of torn
paper. It said, 'Don't worry; the beast is in safe hands. You'll get
it back to-night.'"

"Most mysterious!" Sedgwick remarked. "But it's unpleasant to think
you should have to suffer from the foibles of the creature's owner."

Millicent felt that he was too intimate for their brief acquaintance,
and that in keeping her behind the pillar, where the semi-privacy of
their position suggested confidential relations, he was hardly showing
good taste. Indeed, she realized that there was often something
lacking in his manners, though he had a certain charm and was much
sought after at the hotel.

"I must go," she said. "Mrs. Keith wants me."

Sedgwick moved aside with a bow which Millicent thought need not have
been made, and afterwards crossed the floor to the lounge where Mrs.
Chudleigh was waiting. She was a rather striking, high-coloured woman,
with eyes that had a hard sparkle, and, when her face was in repose,
unusually firm lips. She wore the latest