lessly
into new seas? I am something of a fatalist, Mr. Fitzroy, though the
phrase sounds strange on my lips. Yet I feel that after to-morrow we
shall not meet again so soon or so easily as you imagine, and--if I
may venture to advise one much more experienced than myself--the way
that leads least hopefully to my speedy introduction to your aunt is
that you should see my father, before I rejoin him. You know, I am
sure, that I look on you rather as a friend than a mere--a mere----"

"Slave," he suggested, trying to wrench some spark of humor out of the
iron in their souls.

"Don't be stupid. I mean that you and I have met on an equality that I
would deny to Simmonds or to any of the dozen chauffeurs we have
employed in various parts of the world. And I want to warn you of
this--knowing my father as well as I do--I am certain he has asked
Mrs. Leland's help for the undertaking that others have failed in.
I--can't say more. I----"

"Cynthia, dear! I have been looking for you everywhere," cried a
detested voice. "Ah, there you are, Mr. Fitzroy!" and Mrs. Devar
bustled forward cheerfully. "You have been to Hereford, I hear. How
kind and thoughtful of you! Were there any letters for me?"

"Sorry," broke in Cynthia. "I was so absorbed in my own news that I
forget yours. Here is your letter. It is only from Monsieur Marigny,
to blow both of us up, I suppose, for leaving him desolate last night.
But what do you think of _my_ budget? My father is in London; Mrs.
Leland, a friend of ours, joins us at Chester to-morrow; and Fitzroy
deserts us at the same time."

Mrs. Devar's eyes bulged and her lower jaw fell a little. She could
hardly have exhibited more significant tokens of alarm had each of
Cynthia's unwelcome statements been punctuated by the crash of
artillery fired in the garden beneath.

During a long night and a weary morning she had labored hard at the
building of a new castle in Spain, and now it was dissipated at a
breath. Her sky had fallen; she was plunged into chaos; her brain
reeled under these successive shocks.

"I--don't understand," she gasped, panting as if she had run across
vast stretches of that vague "everywhere" during her quest of Cynthia.

"None of us understands. That is not the essence of the contract.
Anyhow, father is in England, Mrs. Leland will be in Chester, and
Fitzroy is for London. He is the only real hustler in the crowd.
Unless my eyes deceived me, he brought his successor in the c