standing
by it, could see into the office and hear all that passed without being
seen.

The blonde-bearded stranger came up to the office smiling confidently.
He had still his portfolio under his arm, but his smooth-shaven friend
had relieved him of the two bundles of books, and stood slightly apart
while the rest of the new-comer's belongings were being piled into a
huge mound of impedimenta in the hall. Dolores expected the confident
smile of the blonde man to disappear rapidly from his face. But it did
not disappear. He said something to the office clerk which Dolores could
not catch; the clerk immediately nodded, rang for a page-boy, collected
sundry keys from their hooks, and handed them to the page-boy, who
immediately made off in the direction of the lift, heralding the
blonde-bearded stranger, with his smooth-shaven friend still in
attendance, while a squad of porters descended upon the luggage and
wafted it away with the rapidity of Afrite magicians.

Dolores could not restrain her curiosity. She opened the door wider and
called to the clerk, 'Mr. Wilkins.'

Mr. Wilkins looked round. He was a tall, alert, sharp-looking young man,
whose only weakness in life was a hopeless attachment to Miss Paulo.

'Yes, Miss Paulo.'

'Who was the gentleman who just arrived, Mr. Wilkins?'

Mr. Wilkins seemed a little surprised at the interest Miss Paulo
displayed in the arrival of a stranger. But he made the most of the
occasion. He was glad to have anything to tell which could possibly
interest _her_.

'That,' said Mr. Wilkins with a certain pride, 'is quite a distinguished
person in his way. He is Professor Wilberforce P. Flick, President of
the Denver and Sacramento Folk-Lore Societies. He has been travelling on
the Continent for some time past for the benefit of the societies, and
has now arrived in London for the purpose of making acquaintance with
the members of the leading lights of folk-lore in this country.'

Dolores laughed. 'Did he tell you all that just now?' she asked.

'Oh, no,' the young man replied, 'Oh, no, Miss Paulo. All that valuable
information I gained largely from a letter from the distinguished
gentleman himself from Paris last week, and partially also from the
spontaneous statements of his friend Mr. Andrew J. Copping, of Omaha,
who is now in London, and who came here to see if his friend's rooms
were duly reserved.'

'Was that Mr. Copping who was with the Professor just now?'

'Yes, the