him, he pledged himself to return her
safely to her guardian before nine in the evening. Before he retired
to rest that night he opened the window of his bedroom and studied the
heavens with an anxious face. A few clouds were to be seen away to the
north-west, but elsewhere the stars were shining brightly. Taken
altogether, there seemed to be every reasonable chance of their having
a fine day for the excursion.

But, alas! how futile are human hopes, for when he woke next morning a
grievous disappointment was in store for him. Clouds covered the sky,
and a thick drizzle was falling. A more miserable and dispiriting
prelude to the day could scarcely be imagined. His disappointment was
intense; and yet, in a life that seemed as dead to him now as the
Neolithic Period, he remembered that he had gone cub-hunting in
England, had fished in Norway, and shot over his deer-forest in the
Highlands in equally bad weather, and without a grumble or a protest.
On the present occasion, however, everything was different; it seemed
to him as if he had a personal grievance to settle with Dame Nature;
and in this spirit he dressed, ate his breakfast, and finally set off
in a cab for the Rue Jacquarie. Whether Katherine would go out or not
he could not say, but he half-expected she would decline. Having
passed the _concierge_, he made his way upstairs to Madame Bernstein's
sitting-room. Neither of the ladies was there, but, after he had
waited for a few minutes, Katherine put in an appearance, dressed in a
tight-fitting costume of some dark material which displayed her slender
figure to perfection.

"What a terrible day!" she said, as she glanced out of the window. "Do
you think we can go?"

"I will leave it for you to decide," he answered. "If you consider it
too wet we can easily put it off for another day."

Something in his face must have told her how disappointed he would be
if she refused. She accordingly took pity on him.

"Let us go," she said. "I have no doubt it will clear up later on.
Must we start at once?"

"If we wish to catch the train we should leave here in about ten
minutes at latest," he answered.

She thereupon left the room, to return presently with a cup of steaming
chocolate.

"I made this for you myself," she said. "It will keep you warm. While
you are drinking it, if you will excuse me, I will go and get ready."

When she returned they made their way to the cab, and in it set off for
the