scarcely noticed that he had a companion until the man who was standing
by his side addressed him.

"Say, your name is Tavernake, isn't it?"

Tavernake, who had been on the point of striding away, turned sharply
around. The man who had spoken to him was wearing morning clothes of
dark gray tweed and a soft Homburg hat. His complexion was a little
sallow and he was clean-shaven except for a slight black moustache. He
was smoking a black cigar and his accent was transatlantic. Something
about his appearance struck Tavernake as being vaguely familiar, but he
could not at first recall where he had seen him before.

"That is my name, certainly," Tavernake admitted.

"I am going to ask you a somewhat impertinent question," his neighbor
remarked.

"I suppose you can ask it," Tavernake rejoined. "I am not obliged to
answer, am I?"

The man smiled.

"Come," he said, "that's honest, at any rate. Are you in a hurry for a
few minutes?"

"I am in no particular hurry," Tavernake answered. "What do you want?"

"A few nights ago," the stranger continued, lowering his voice a little,
"I met you with a young lady whose appearance, for some reason which
we needn't go into, interested me. To-night I happened to overhear you
inquiring, only a few minutes ago, for the sister of the same young
lady."

"What you heard doesn't concern me in the least," Tavernake retorted. "I
should say that you had no business to listen."

His companion smiled.

"Well," he declared, "I have always heard a good deal about British
frankness, and it seems to me that I'm getting some. Anyway, I'll
tell you where I come in. I am interested in Mrs. Wenham Gardner. I am
interested, also, in her sister, whom I think you know--Miss Beatrice
Franklin, not Miss Tavernake!"

Tavernake made no immediate reply. The man was an American, without a
doubt. Perhaps he knew something of Beatrice. Perhaps this was one
of the friends of that former life concerning which she had told him
nothing.

"You are not, by any chance, proposing," Tavernake said at last, "to
discuss either of these ladies with me? I do not know you or what your
business may be. In any case, I am going now."

The other laid his hand on Tavernake's shoulder.

"You'll be soaked to the skin," he protested. "I want you to come into
the smoking-room here with me for a few minutes. We will have a drink
together and a little conversation, if you don't mind."

"But I do mind," Tavernake declared