dren made their dejeuner with Sir Tancred and Lord Crosland, and
after it, having restored the reluctant Blazer to his lodging in the
basement of the hotel, they took the train to Nice.

Tinker hired the largest commissionaire at the station and bought a
small trunk, which he gave him to carry. Then he went straight to
Madame Aline's and, having insisted on seeing Madame herself, explained
that the bright and elaborate fashions affected by the little French
girls would not suit Elsie.

Madame agreed with him, but said, "Simplicity is so expensive."

Tinker waved away the consideration, and showed Madame the
thousand-franc note. At once she fell a victim to his irresistible
charm, and set about meeting his taste with the liveliest energy, with
the result that in less than an hour Elsie was provided with an evening
frock of an exquisite shade of heliotrope, an afternoon frock of no
less exquisite shade of blue, and a hat, stockings, and gloves to
match. They were packed in the trunk, and with them two pairs of
shoes, which Madame sent for from a no less expensive bootmaker, and
various other garments.

When they came out of her shop, Tinker considered for a while the hole
he had made in the thousand-franc note, and said, "The time has come to
be economical."

He examined the shops with a keen eye till he came to one which seemed
more of the popular kind, and there he bought a frock of serge and
three of dark-blue linen, stouter shoes, slippers, and two hats. Here
he waited while Elsie changed, and when she came out, looking another
creature, he said with a sigh of relief, "I knew you'd look all right
if you had a chance."

They had ices at a cafe, and caught a train back to Monte Carlo. Elsie
seemed dazed with her sudden wealth, while Tinker was full of a quiet,
restful satisfaction. But it was in the evening that the great triumph
came. When she came out of her room in her evening frock, Tinker
regarded her for a moment with a satisfaction that was almost solemn,
then he turned her round and said, "We match."

"Do you really think so?" said Elsie in an awed voice, with humid eyes.

"There's no doubt about it," said Tinker, with calm, dispassionate, and
judicial impartiality.

When they came into the restaurant there was a faint murmur of
delighted surprise from the tables they passed; and one stout, but
sentimental baroness cried, "Viola des seraphin!"

And truly, if you can conceive of a seraph in an