e Nebraska House,
but he acknowledged Miss Jenrys' introduction with a perfect bow and
an amiable speech, intended for my companions as well as for myself.

He had taken the liberty of calling at their cottage, he informed us,
to ask if he might not serve them as escort, but had been told that
they were already at the grounds. He considered himself very fortunate
to have met them at the very gate, as it were; and then he presented
the roses to Miss Jenrys.

She received them with a smile, and a word of praise for their beauty,
and then, in that charming way a clever woman has when she chooses to
employ it, she made him aware that his kindly offer of escort service
must be declined, since, with a nod in my direction, they 'were
already provided with an escort.'

I took my cue at once, and after a few more words, addressed to each
in turn, and a short exchange of courtesies between him and myself,
Monsieur Voisin lifted his hat, saying that since he was so much a
laggard as to have lost some charming companions he would endeavour to
recover his lost time by travelling to the Convent of La Rabida _via_
the Intramural Railway; and so, smiling and bowing, he went back over
the bridge to the station above the entrance.

When he had gone Miss Jenrys turned to me.

'I must ask your pardon for that little implied fib, Mr. Masters; and,
auntie, don't look too much shocked. I could not allow Mr. Masters to
lose his time, which is no doubt of value, or to go away perhaps
before he had heard my experience.' And then, before the elder lady
could utter her gentle reproof or I could reply to her speech, she
began to tell her story.

'I thought,' she began, 'that I would take the shortest way to my
object, so I went in, as you saw, to view South Dakota. It was so
small that I was soon upstairs, walking around the little gallery
under the dome. Of course I came upon our friend the brunette almost
at once, and greeted her so amiably that she joined my promenade
without hesitation. Of course you don't care to know all that we said.
I let her take the initiative, only keeping an amiable and fairly
interested countenance and following her lead. She began by telling me
how she "happened to meet me again." She had entered early, and had
passed the time looking at some of the State buildings, in order to be
near the entrance, where her "mamma" had partly promised to meet her
in an hour or so. She did not want to miss her "mamma," and so