ng overturned. Blake sprang in and
Harding, who followed, divided between amusement and impatience, looked
on at an animated scene. Two porters were chasing the bob-cat which
now and then turned upon them savagely, while several waiters, who kept
at a judicious distance, tried to frighten it into a corner by
flourishing their napkins. Women fled out of the creature's way, men
hastily moved chairs and tables to give the pursuers room, and some of
the more energetic joined in the chase. At one end of the room Mrs.
Keith stood angrily giving instructions which nobody attended to.
Millicent, who was close by, looked hot and unhappy, but for all that
her eyes twinkled when a waiter, colliding with a chair, went down with
a crash and the bobcat sped away from him in a series of awkward jumps.

At length, Blake managed to seize it with his mittened hands and after
rolling it in a cloth and giving it to a porter, advanced towards Mrs.
Keith, his face red with exertion but contrite, and the cloak, which
had come unhooked, hanging down from one shoulder. She glanced at him
in a puzzled, half-disturbed manner when he stopped.

"The cat is safe," he said. "The man I gave it to will put it with the
other animals. If he holds it firmly, I don't think it can bite him."

"As I'm told you dropped it in the vestibule, I feel I'm entitled to an
explanation," Mrs. Keith replied in a formal tone, looking hard at him.
"I gave the cat to my maid this morning, sending Miss Graham to see it
delivered to a man in the town, and it disappeared. How did it come
into your possession?"

"Through no fault of Miss Graham's. I happened to notice your maid
trying to carry an awkwardly shaped hamper and Miss Graham looking for
a cab. It struck me the thing was more of a man's errand and I
undertook it."

"It's curious that you knew what the errand was, unless Miss Graham
told you." Mrs. Keith looked sternly at Millicent, who blushed. "I
have been led to believe that you made her acquaintance, without my
knowledge, on board the steamer by which we came up."

"That," said Blake respectfully, "is not quite correct. I was formally
presented to Miss Graham in England some time ago. However, as I saw a
car coming along St. Catharine's while your maid was looking for a hack
and there was no time to explain, I scribbled a note on a bit of a
letter and gave it to a boy, and then took the cat to a taxidermist."

"To a taxidermist! Why?"

"It