bsolutely declined to sail from Tilbury. Ab-so-lute-ly!
Swears she'll join the steamer at Marseilles. And Pilgrim has got to
go with her, too."

"Why?"

"Well, even Pilgrim couldn't have a grand embarking ceremony without
his leading lady! He's furious, I hear."

"Why shouldn't he go with her?"

"Why not? Because he's formally announced his grand embarking
ceremony! Invitations are out. Barge from London Bridge to Tilbury,
and so on! What he wants is a good excuse for giving it up. He'd never
be able to admit that he'd had to give it up because Cora Pryde made
him! He wants to save his face."

"Well," said Edward Henry, absently. "It's a queer world. You've got
me a room at the Grand Bab?"

"Rather!"

"Then let's go and have a look at the Regent first," said Edward
Henry.

No sooner had he expressed the wish than Mr. Harrier's neck curved
round through the window, and with three words to the chauffeur he had
deflected the course of the taxi.

Edward Henry had an almost boyish curiosity about his edifice. He
would go and give it a glance at the oddest moments. And just now he
had a swift and violent desire to behold it. With all speed the taxi
shot down Shaftesbury Avenue and swerved to the right....

There it was! Yes, it really existed, the incredible edifice of his
caprice and of Mr. Alloyd's constructive imagination! It had already
reached a height of fifteen feet; and, dozen of yards above that,
cranes dominated the sunlit air, swinging loads of bricks in the
azure; and scores of workmen crawled about beneath these monsters. And
he, Edward Henry, by a single act of volition, was the author of it!
He slipped from the taxi, penetrated within the wall of hoardings,
and gazed, just gazed! A wondrous thing--human enterprise! And also
a terrifying thing!... That building might be the tomb of his
reputation. On the other hand, it might be the seed of a new renown
compared to which the first would be as naught! He turned his eyes
away, in fear--yes, in fear!

"I say," he said. "Will Sir John Pilgrim be out of bed yet, d'ye
think?" He glanced at his watch. The hour was about eleven.

"He'll be at breakfast."

"I'm going to see him, then. What's his address?"

"25 Queen Anne's Gate. But do you knaow him? I do. Shall I cam with
you?"

"No," said Edward Henry, shortly. "You go on with my bags to the Grand
Bab, and get me another taxi. I'll see you in my room at the hotel at
a quarter to one. Eh?"

"Rathe