d so saved me from something more
serious than a little pain in the shoulder, I am certainly your
debtor, and I am glad of this opportunity to thank you.'

A little back of the place where she stood, in a corner, hemmed in on
one side by a long glass case of exhibits of various sorts, was an
armchair, placed there, doubtless, for the ease of the person in
charge of said case and its contents. There was no such person
present, however, at that hour, and I pointed toward the chair, and
said:

'If you will kindly take that seat, so that I may not feel that I am
compelling you to stand, I will not detain you long.'

She turned toward the seat, looked at it, at me, and finally beyond me
and across the room, as if debating, and half inclined to pass me and
escape; and then I saw a sudden withdrawal of the eyes and a
compression of the lips, slight but perceptible. She turned as if in
haste, almost, and seated herself in the chair, first turning it
toward the windows so that her back would be toward the interior of
the room, and then, to my surprise, she beckoned me, with a
half-smile, to a place upon the window-seat, which would narrowly
serve this purpose.

I had not once looked back or about me, but I did not flatter myself
that my words alone had won for me this graciousness; she had seen
the little brunette, and desired to avoid her.

'Thank you,' I said, when we were both seated. 'I will now come to the
point at once. You must know, then, that after you had passed on and
out of sight in the crowd I discovered at my very feet--so close that
no one had ventured to pick it up, if anyone had seen it in that
crowd--a black leather bag--a chatelaine, I think you ladies call it.'

'Oh! you found my bag?' The look of reserve was lost in a quick and
charming smile. 'I am very glad!'

'I found it, and I tried to follow you and restore it, but you had
disappeared.'

'I had indeed; in at the first gate, which happened to be the Javanese
Village.'

'That explains my failure. I had given up my search, and was about to
go on my way, when I was approached by a young lady, a small person
with dark eyes and wearing a large plumed sailor-hat, who explained
that she was a friend to the lady whose bag I had in my hand, that she
had seen me pick it up, and would now restore it to her.'

'And you gave it to her?'

'Was it not right?'

'The person was an impostor.'

'Is it possible? And yet two days after, as you were entering