at a personage as Signor Baroni, stood an excellent chance of being
allowed a generous latitude as regards conforming to the rules at No.
24--provided she paid her bills promptly and without too careful a
scrutiny of the "extras." Bunty, indeed, retained few illusions
concerning her employer, and perhaps this was just as well--for the fewer
the illusions by which you're handicapped, the fewer your disappointments
before the journey's end.

"You haven't told me your name," said Diana, when the lady-help
reappeared with a small tea-tray in her hand.

"Bunting," came the smiling reply. "But most of the boarders call me
Bunty."

"I shall, too, may I?--And oh, why haven't you brought two cups? I
wanted you to have tea with me--if you've time, that is?"

"If I had brought a second cup, '_Tea, for two_' would have been charged
to your account," observed Miss Bunting.

"What?" Diana's eyes grew round with astonishment. "With the same sized
teapot?"

The other nodded humorously.

"Well, Mrs. Lawrence's logic is beyond me," pursued Diana.
"However, we'll obviate the difficulty. I'll have tea out of my
tooth-glass"--glancing towards the washstand in the adjoining room where
that article, inverted, capped the water-bottle--"and you, being the
honoured guest, shall luxuriate in the cup."

Bunty modestly protested, but Diana had her own way in the matter, and
when finally the little lady-help went downstairs to pour out tea in the
dining-room for the rest of the boarders, it was with that pleasantly
warm glow about the region of the heart which the experience of an
unexpected kindness is prone to produce.

Meanwhile Diana busied herself unpacking her clothes and putting them
away in the rather limited cupboard accommodation provided, and in fixing
up a few pictures, recklessly hammering the requisite nails into the
walls in happy disregard of Rule III of the printed list, which
emphatically stated that: "_No nails must be driven into the walls
without permission_."

By the time she had completed these operations a dressing-bell sounded,
and quickly exchanging her travelling costume for a filmy little dinner
dress of some soft, shimmering material, she sallied downstairs in search
of the dining-room.

Mrs. Lawrence met her on the threshold, warmly welcoming, and conducting
her to her allotted place at the lower end of a long table, around which
were seated--as it appeared to Diana in that first dizzy moment of
arr