fellow was a little astonished when I shut the door in his face."

"I fancy he WAS," returned Mrs. Horncastle dryly. "But I shouldn't call
Mr. Van Loo an idiot. He has the reputation of being a cautious business
man."

Mrs. Barker bit her lip. Her companion had been recognized. She rose
with a slight flirt of her skirt. "I suppose I must go and get a room;
there was nobody in the office when I came. Everything is badly managed
here since my father took away the best servants to Hymettus." She
moved with affected carelessness towards the door, when Mrs. Horncastle,
without rising from her seat, said:--

"Why not stay here?"

Mrs. Barker brightened for a moment. "Oh," she said, with polite
deprecation, "I couldn't think of turning you out."

"I don't intend you shall," said Mrs. Horncastle. "We will stay here
together until you go with me to Hymettus, or until Mr. Van Loo leaves
the hotel. He will hardly attempt to come in here again if I remain."

Mrs. Barker, with a half-laugh, sat down irresolutely. Mrs. Horncastle
gazed at her curiously; she was evidently a novice in this sort of
thing. But, strange to say,--and I leave the ethics of this for the sex
to settle,--the fact did not soften Mrs. Horncastle's heart, nor in the
least qualify her attitude towards the younger woman. After an
awkward pause Mrs. Barker rose again. "Well, it's very good of you,
and--and---I'll just run out and wash my hands and get the dust off me,
and come back."

"No, Mrs. Barker," said Mrs. Horncastle, rising and approaching her,
"you will first wash your hands of this Mr. Van Loo, and get some of the
dust of the rendezvous off you before you do anything else. You CAN do
it by simply telling him, SHOULD YOU MEET HIM IN THE HALL, that I was
sitting here when he came in, and heard EVERYTHING! Depend upon it, he
won't trouble you again."

But Mrs. Barker, though inexperienced in love, was a good fighter.
The best of the sex are. She dropped into the rocking-chair, and began
rocking backwards and forwards while still tugging at her gloves, and
said, in a gradually warming voice, "I certainly shall not magnify Mr.
Van Loo's silliness to that importance. And I have yet to learn what you
mean by talking about a rendezvous! And I want to know," she continued,
suddenly stopping her rocking and tilting the rockers impertinently
behind her, as, with her elbows squared on the chair arms, she tilted
her own face defiantly up into Mrs. Horncastle