gracefully between two
slender fingers, was my languid-looking young aristocrat. He was blowing
out smoke in a lazy blue stream. The moment he saw me, however, he
turned away as if he desired to escape observation, and ducked down so
as to hide his face behind his companions. I wondered why on earth he
should want to avoid me. Could this be the Count? No, the young man with
the halo of cigarette smoke stood three inches taller. Who, then, at
Schlangenbad could wish to avoid my notice? It was a singular mystery;
for I was quite certain the supercilious young man was trying his best
to prevent my seeing him.

That evening, after dinner, the Cantankerous Old Lady burst out
suddenly, 'Well, I can't for the life of me imagine why Harold hasn't
turned up here. The wretch knew I was coming; and I heard from our
Ambassador at Rome last week that he was going to be at Schlangenbad.'

'Who is Harold?' I asked.

'My nephew,' Lady Georgina snapped back, beating a devil's tattoo with
her fan on the table. 'The only member of my family, except myself, who
isn't a born idiot. Harold's not an idiot; he's an _attache_ at Rome.'

I saw it at a glance. 'Then he _is_ in Schlangenbad,' I answered. 'I
noticed him this morning.'

The old lady turned towards me sharply. She peered right through me, as
if she were a Roentgen ray. I could see she was asking herself whether
this was a conspiracy, and whether I had come there on purpose to meet
'Harold.' But I flatter myself I am tolerably mistress of my own
countenance. I did not blench. 'How do you know?' she asked quickly,
with an acid intonation.

If I had answered the truth, I should have said, 'I know he is here,
because I saw a good-looking young man evidently trying to avoid you
this morning; and if a young man has the misfortune to be born your
nephew, and also to have expectations from you, it is easy to understand
that he would prefer to keep out of your way as long as possible.' But
that would have been neither polite nor politic. Moreover, I reflected
that I had no particular reason for wishing to do Mr. Harold a bad turn;
and that it would be kinder to him, as well as to her, to conceal the
reasons on which I based my instinctive inference. So I took up a strong
strategic position. 'I have an intuition that I saw him in the village
this morning,' I said. 'Family likeness, perhaps. I merely jumped at it
as you spoke. A tall, languid young man; large, poetical eyes; an
artistic