for a cigar. The shopman mildly inquired
what price.

'What are the best you've got?' asked Theodore Racksole.

'Five shillings each, sir,' said the man promptly.

'Give me a penny one,' was Theodore Racksole's laconic request, and he
walked out of the shop smoking the penny cigar. It was a new sensation
for him.

He was inhaling the aromatic odours of Eugene Rimmel's establishment
for the sale of scents when a gentleman, walking slowly in the opposite
direction, accosted him with a quiet, 'Good evening, Mr Racksole.' The
millionaire did not at first recognize his interlocutor, who wore a
travelling overcoat, and was carrying a handbag. Then a slight, pleased
smile passed over his features, and he held out his hand.

'Well, Mr Babylon,' he greeted the other, 'of all persons in the wide
world you are the man I would most have wished to meet.'

'You flatter me,' said the little Anglicized Swiss.

'No, I don't,' answered Racksole; 'it isn't my custom, any more than
it's yours. I wanted to have a real good long yarn with you, and lo!
here you are! Where have you sprung from?'

'From Lausanne,' said Felix Babylon. 'I had finished my duties there,
I had nothing else to do, and I felt homesick. I felt the nostalgia of
London, and so I came over, just as you see,' and he raised the handbag
for Racksole's notice. 'One toothbrush, one razor, two slippers, eh?'
He laughed. 'I was wondering as I walked along where I should stay--me,
Felix Babylon, homeless in London.'

'I should advise you to stay at the Grand Babylon,' Racksole laughed
back.

'It is a good hotel, and I know the proprietor personally.'

'Rather expensive, is it not?' said Babylon.

'To you, sir,' answered Racksole, 'the inclusive terms will be exactly
half a crown a week. Do you accept?'

'I accept,' said Babylon, and added, 'You are very good, Mr Racksole.'

They strolled together back to the hotel, saying nothing in particular,
but feeling very content with each other's company.

'Many customers?' asked Felix Babylon.

'Very tolerable,' said Racksole, assuming as much of the air of the
professional hotel proprietor as he could. 'I think I may say in the
storekeeper's phrase, that if there is any business about I am doing it.

To-night the people are all on the terrace in the portico--it's so
confoundedly hot--and the consumption of ice is simply enormous--nearly
as large as it would be in New York.'

'In that case,' said Babylon politely, 'l