he was beginning to question the finality
of his own judgment. Then his eyes wandered off to the cornice of the
wall, whose florid rococo upholstery won his sincere approval.

"Hang it!" he murmured impatiently, pulling a gold watch from his
waistcoat pocket. "That loon Jack--he never does keep an engagement."

At this moment, distant footsteps were heard, which, as they
approached, resounded with a sepulchral distinctness on the marble
pavement. Presently a young man entered breathlessly, holding his hat
in one hand and a white handkerchief in the other.

"Harry," he cried, excitedly, "I have found the goddess of the place.
Come quick, before she vanishes. It is a rare chance, I tell you."

He seized his companion's arm and, ignoring his remonstrances, almost
dragged him through the door by which he had entered.

"What sort of lunacy is it you are up to now, Jack?" the other was
heard to grumble. "I'll bet ten to one you have been making an ass of
yourself."

"I dare say I have," retorted Jack, good-naturedly; "a man who has not
the faculty of making a fool of himself occasionally is only half a
man. You would be a better fellow, too, Harry, if you were not so
deucedly respectable; a slight admixture of folly would give tone and
color to your demure and rigid propriety. For a man so splendidly
equipped by fortune, you have made a poor job of existence, Harry.
When I see you bestowing your sullen patronage upon the great
masterpieces of the past, I am ashamed of you--yes, by Jove, I am."

"Don't you bother about me," was the ungracious response of his
comrade. "I cut my eye-teeth a good while before you did, even though
you may be a few years older. I'll take care of myself, you may depend
upon it, and of you, too, if you get yourself into a scrape, which you
seem bent upon doing."

"Now, do be amiable, Harry," urged the other with gentle
persuasiveness. "I can't take it upon my conscience to introduce you
to a lady, and far less to a goddess, unless you promise to put on
your best behavior. You know from your mythology that goddesses are
capable of taking a terrible vengeance upon mortals who unwittingly
offend them."

Mr. John Cranbrook--for that was the name of the demonstrative
tourist--was a small, neat-looking man, with an eager face and a pair
of dark, vivid eyes. His features, though not in themselves handsome,
were finely, almost tenderly, modelled. His nose was not of the
classical type, but nevert