Now I
know. It comes this way, like a flash of lightning from a summer sky."

It was only fit and proper that she should magnify her first real
commission. No veteran soldier ever donned a field marshal's uniform
with the same zest that he displayed when his subaltern's outfit came
from the tailor. So Helen glowed with that serious enthusiasm which is
the soul of genius, for without it life becomes flat and gray, and
she passed many anxious, half-doubting hours until a courteous bank
official handed her a packet at the appointed time on Monday, and gave
her a receipt to sign, and asked her how she would take her hundred
pounds--did she want it all in notes or some in gold?

She was so unnerved by this sudden confirmation of her good fortune
that she stammered confusedly, "I--really--don't know."

"Well, it would be rather heavy in gold," came the smiling comment.
"This money, I understand, is paid to you for some journalistic
enterprise that will take you abroad. May I suggest that you should
carry, say, thirty pounds in notes and ten in gold, and allow me to
give you the balance in the form of circular notes, which are payable
only under your signature?"

"Yes," said Helen, rosy red at her own awkwardness, "that will be very
nice."

The official pushed across the counter some banknotes and sovereigns,
and summoned a commissionaire to usher her into the waiting room till
he had prepared the circular notes. The respite was a blessing. It
gave Helen time to recover her self possession. She opened the packet
and found therein coupons for the journey to and from St. Moritz,
together with a letter from the sleeping car company, from which she
gathered that a berth on the Engadine Express was provisionally
reserved in her name for the following Thursday, but any change to
a later date must be made forthwith, as the holiday pressure was
beginning. It was advisable too, she was reminded, that she should
secure her return berth before leaving London.

Each moment the reality of the tour became more patent. She might
feel herself bewitched; but pounds sterling and railway tickets were
tangible things, and not to be explained away by any fantasy. By the
time her additional wealth was ready she was better fitted to guard
it. She hurried away quite unconscious of the admiring eyes that were
raised from dockets and ledgers behind the grille. She made for the
court in which "The Firefly" had its abode. The squalor of the
pass