the theatre with
me?--and how about Hurlingham on Saturday?"

Anna shook her head.

"Thank you," she said coolly. "Those things are not for me just at
present."

He was obviously puzzled. Anna sighed as she reflected that her sister
had simply revelled in her indiscretions.

"Come," he said, "you can't be meaning to bury yourself. There must be
something we can do. What do you say to Brighton----"

Anna looked at him quietly--and he never finished his sentence.

"May I ask whether you are staying with friends in town?" he inquired
deferentially. "Perhaps your engagements are made for you."

"I am staying," she answered coolly, "at a small boarding-house near
Russell Square."

He dropped his eye-glass with a clatter.

"At a boarding-house?" he gasped.

She nodded.

"Yes. I am an independent sort of person," she continued, "and I am
engaged in an attempt to earn my own living. You don't happen to know
of any one, I suppose, who wants a nursery governess, or a
clerk--without shorthand--or a tryer-on, or a copyist, or----"

"For Heaven's sake stop, Miss Pellissier," he interrupted. "What a
hideous repertoire! If you are in earnest about wanting to earn money,
why on earth don't you accept an engagement here?"

"An engagement?" she queried.

"On the stage? Yes. You would not have the slightest difficulty."

She laughed softly to herself.

"Do you know," she confessed, "I never thought of that?"

He looked at her as though doubting even now whether she could
possibly be in earnest.

"I cannot conceive," he said, "how any other occupation could ever
have occurred to you. You do not need me to remind you of your success
at Paris. The papers are continually wondering what has become of
'Alcide.' Your name alone would fill any music hall in London."

Again that curious smile which puzzled him so much parted her lips for
a moment.

"Dear me," she said, "I fancy you exaggerate my fame. I can't imagine
Londoners--particularly interested in me."

He shrugged his shoulders. Even now he was not at all sure that she
was not playing with him. There were so many things about her which he
could not understand. She began to draw on her gloves thoughtfully.

"I am very much obliged for the tea," she said. "This is a charming
place, and I have enjoyed the rest."

"It was a delightful piece of good fortune that I should have met
you," he answered. "I hope that whatever your plans may be, you will
give me the opp