t.

The flare of a match roused her from her half-idle, half-interested
contemplation of her fellow-passenger, and, as he lit his pipe, she was
sharply conscious that his oddly luminous eyes were regarding her with a
glint of irony in their depths.

Instantly she recalled his hostile reception of her entrance into the
compartment, and the defiantly given explanation she had tendered in
return.

Very deliberately she extracted her cigarette-case from her bag and
selected a cigarette, only to discover that she had not supplied herself
with a matchbox. She hunted assiduously amongst the assortment of odds
and ends the bag contained, but in vain, and finally, a little nettled
that her companion made no attempt to supply the obvious deficiency, she
looked up to find that he was once more, to all appearances, completely
absorbed in his newspaper.

Sara regarded him with indignation; in her own mind she was perfectly
convinced that he was aware of her quandary and had no mind to help
her out of it. Evidently he had not forgiven her intrusion into his
solitude.

"Boor!" she ejaculated mentally. Then, aloud, and with considerable
acerbity:

"Could you oblige me with a match?"

With no show of alacrity, and with complete indifference of manner, he
produced a matchbox and handed it to her, immediately reverting to his
newspaper as though considerably bored by the interruption.

Sara flushed, and, having lit her cigarette, tendered him his matchbox
with an icy little word of thanks.

Apparently, however, he was quite unashamed of his churlishness, for he
accepted the box without troubling to raise his eyes from the page
he was reading, and the remainder of the journey to Monkshaven was
accomplished in an atmosphere that bristled with hostility.

As the train slowed up into the station, it became evident to Sara that
Monkshaven was also the destination of her travelling companion, for he
proceeded with great deliberation to fold up his newspaper and to hoist
his suit-case down from the rack. It did not seem to occur to him
to proffer his service to Sara, who was struggling with her own
hand-luggage, and the instant the train came to a standstill he opened
the door of the compartment, stopped out on to the platform, and marched
away.

A gleam of amusement crossed her face.

"I wonder who he is?" she reflected, as she followed in the wake of
a porter in search of her trunks. "He certainly needs a lesson in
manners."