h a good time, that we
could hardly bribe you to desert--your party and come with us, even at
Grenoble."

"My party deserted me, and that was the end of my 'good time,'" I
replied, charmed with Molly's conception of the role of a "quiet
kitten" whose existence was to be forgotten. As if any man could ever
forget hers!

"What, your nice Joseph and his Finois?" she inquired.

"When I speak of 'my party' I refer particularly to the boy I wrote
you about," I returned, far from averse to being drawn out on the
subject of my troubles, though I had resolved, were I not intimately
questioned, to let them prey upon my damask cheek.

"Oh, yes, that wonderful American boy. Did he keep right on being
wonderful all the time, or did he turn out disappointing in the end?"

"Disappointing!" I echoed. "No; rather the other way round. He was
always surprising me with new qualities. I never saw anyone like him."

"Ah, perhaps that's because you never knew other American boys. I dare
say if I'd met him I shouldn't have found him so remarkable."

"Yes, you would," I protested. "There could be no two opinions about
it."

"Is he good-looking?"

"Extraordinarily. Such eyes as his are wasted on a boy--or would be on
any other boy. If he'd been a girl, he would have been one for a man
to fall head over ears in love with."

"You're enthusiastic! Hasn't he got any sisters?"

"He has one, who is supposed to be like him. I was promised--or partly
promised--to meet her in Monte Carlo, at the end of our journey, where
the Boy expected her to join him."

"Oh, has he been called away by her?"

"I don't think so."

"I fancied that might have been why he left you."

"I don't know what his reason was, but I have faith enough in the
little chap to be sure it was a _good one_."

"Sure you didn't bore each other?"

"If you had ever seen that boy, you'd know that the word 'bore' would
perish in his presence like a microbe in hot water. As for me--I don't
believe I bored him. He did say once that we would part when we came
to the 'turnstile,' meaning the point of mutual boredom, but I can't
believe the turnstile was in his sight. I think that his resolution to
go was sudden and unexpected."

"He must have been an interesting boy, and you ought to be grateful to
Fate for sending him your way because apparently he gave you no time
for brooding on the past."

"The past? Oh, by Jove, I couldn't think what you meant for a second.
You have a