le would fall in just this way.

And now what was to be done? Adelle felt that they should drive at once
to the Villa Ponitowski, secure her clothes and jewelry, and make Pussy,
who she had no doubt was there, bank them until the embargo on her
drafts was raised. But neither had what Archie called "the nerve" to do
this. So they went for refuge to the only place they knew, Miss Baxter's
studio.

There they found Miss Comstock. She had come to Paris, of course, by the
first train the day before, arriving at the studio shortly after they
had left in search of food. She had vibrated between the studio and the
Neuilly villa ever since, sure that when Adelle was short of funds she
would go home to roost. And Pussy had taken immediate measures to cut
off funds by cabling to the trust company the exact facts of Adelle's
disappearance in company with the Californian. She received them
amiably.

"My dear Adelle," she began, "you should not be so eccentric. You gave
us all a shock!... I was coming up to Paris and would have been glad to
motor up with you and--er--Mr. Davis, I believe." There was a deadly
pause while she scrutinized the guilty couple through her glasses, as if
she were determining the exact extent of the mischief already done. She
looked disgustedly over the dusty studio and observed,--"It's not a
sweet place for--er--love-making is it? Why didn't you go to the Villa,
my dear, and let Marie look after you?"

Archie laughed inanely. Adelle felt that she could not stand more of
this feline fooling. She said bluntly,--

"We're married."

"Married! So soon! How--er--nice!" Pussy commented.

"Yes, we're married, Miss Comstock," Archie added lamely, mopping his
brow.

"You don't mean that?" Miss Comstock said quickly, her tone changing.

Adelle nodded.

"Then it is really a serious matter."

Adelle's blood froze.

"I can't believe you have been such a fool," she said to the girl. "Or
you such a scamp," she turned upon the frightened youth.

It seemed to Adelle that Pussy would have condoned anything or
everything except that fatal visit to the consulate. Pussy's morals, she
knew, were of the strictly serviceable sort, and she was gladder than
ever that she had prodded Archie into having the ceremony performed at
once. Now Pussy could do nothing but scold.

But Miss Comstock accepted only the inevitable, and she was not yet
convinced that the visit to the consulate and the ceremony there
constituted an