e streets in the way he's
pointin'. So I keep on, and, when I get there, I go through the whole
rigamarole with another Frenchman. About the third session and I'm back
on the Concord Place. THERE I am all right. No, I don't propose to stay
lost long. My father and grandfather and all my men folks spent their
lives cruisin' through crooked passages and crowded shoals and I guess
I've inherited some of the knack."

At last I was strong enough to take a short outing in Hephzy's company.
I returned to the hotel, where Hephzy left me. She was going to do a
little shopping by herself. I went to my room and sat down to rest.
A bell boy--at least that is what we should have called him in the
States--knocked at the door.

"A lady to see Monsieur," he said.

The lady was Frances.

She entered the room and I rose to greet her.

"Why, you are alone!" she exclaimed. "Where is Miss Cahoon?"

"She is out, on a shopping expedition," I explained. "She will be back
soon. I have been out too. We have been driving together. What do you
think of that!"

She seemed pleased at the news but when I urged her to sit and wait
for Hephzy's return she hesitated. Her hesitation, however, was only
momentary. She took the chair by the window and we chatted together,
of my newly-gained strength, of Hephzy's adventures as a pathfinder in
Paris, of the weather, of a dozen inconsequential things. I found it
difficult to sustain my part in the conversation. There was so much
of real importance which I wanted to say. I wanted to ask her about
herself, where she lodged, if she was still singing at L'Abbaye, what
her plans for the future might be. And I did not dare.

My remarks became more and more disjointed and she, too, seemed uneasy
and absent-minded. At length there was an interval of silence. She broke
that silence.

"I suppose," she said, "you will be going back to Mayberry soon."

"Back to Mayberry?" I repeated.

"Yes. You and Miss Cahoon will go back there, of course, now that you
are strong enough to travel. She told me that the American friends with
whom you and she were to visit Switzerland had changed their plans and
were going on to Italy. She said that she had written them that your
proposed Continental trip was abandoned."

"Yes. Yes, that was given up, of course."

"Then you will go back to England, will you not?"

"I don't know. We have made no plans as yet."

"But you will go back. Miss Cahoon said you would. And, when y