ed cheek, and turned away. "Poor little
Dinah!" she said.

The door closed upon her graceful figure in its old-world, sweeping robe
and Dinah whizzed round from the glass like a naughty fairy in a rage.
"Rose de Vigne, I hate you!" she said aloud, and stamped her unshod foot
upon the floor.

A period of uninterrupted misfortune followed this outburst. Everything
went wrong. The costume which the French maid had so deftly fitted upon
her that morning refused to be adjusted properly. The fastenings baffled
her, and finally a hook at the back took firm hold of the lawn of her
sleeve and maliciously refused to be disentangled therefrom.

Dinah struggled for freedom for some minutes till the lawn began to tear,
and then at last she became desperate. "Billy must do it," she said, and
almost in tears she threw open the door and ran down the passage.

Billy's room was round a corner, and this end of the corridor was dim. As
she turned it, she almost collided with a figure coming in the opposite
direction--a boyish-looking figure in evening dress which she instantly
took for Billy.

"Oh, there you are!" she exclaimed. "Do come along and help me like a
saint! I'm in such a fix."

There was an instant's pause before she discovered her mistake, and then
in the same moment a man's voice answered her.

"Of course I will help you with pleasure. What is wrong?"

Dinah started back, as if she would flee in dismay. But perhaps it was
the kindness of his response, or possibly only the extremity of her
need--something held her there. She stood her ground as it were in spite
of herself.

"Oh, it is you! I do beg your pardon. I thought it was Billy. I've got my
sleeve caught up at the back, and I want him to undo it."

"I'll undo it if you will allow me," said Scott.

"Oh, would you? How awfully kind! My arm is nearly broken with trying to
get free. You can't see here though," said Dinah. "There's a light by my
door."

"Let us go to it then!" said Scott. "I know what it is to have things go
wrong at a critical time."

He accompanied her back again with the utmost simplicity, stopped by the
light, and proceeded with considerable deftness to remedy the mischief.

"Oh, thank you!" said Dinah, with heart-felt gratitude as he freed her at
last. "Billy would have torn the stuff in all directions. I'm dressing
against time, you see, and I've no one to help me."

"Do you want any more help?" asked Scott, looking at her with a quizz