op, and we said, both together, it was our dog."

"The man took off his hat, and answered in English, such a nice man, and
quite good-looking, with a big mustache, and quick-tempered blue eyes.
He said that the first thing he knew, Tibe had jumped into his cab, and
he had no idea where he came from, as he'd been reading in a guide-book;
but the strangest thing was, he felt certain Tibe had belonged to _him_
when a puppy; only his dog wasn't named Tibe, but John Bull--Bully for
short, and he sold him to an American, because it turned out his wife
didn't like bulldogs in the house, she thought them too ugly."

"What a _cat_!" interpolated the Chaperon.

"Could it be possible that Tibe ever _was_ his?" asked Nell. "He sold
his dog just a year ago, when he was six months old----"

"I bought Tibe ten months ago, poor lamb, for a song, because he was
ill--he'd been seasick on a long voyage, so I nursed him up, and _see_
what he is now," said Tibe's mistress. "It may be he'd belonged to this
man, for it's always the strangest things that are true. Tibe has a
wonderful memory for faces; but I'm sure if I'd been with him, he
wouldn't have run away from me for twenty old masters."

"The _second_ queerest thing in the adventure is, that this 'old
master' must be some relation of yours, Lady MacNairne," said Nell. "He
gave us his card. See, here it is." She handed it to the Chaperon, who
gazed at it through her blue spectacles for a moment without speaking;
then passed it to Starr. "Merely--a relation by marriage," said she.
"Quite a distant relation. I never saw this gentleman myself; but I
believe you've met him, haven't you, dear Ronny?"

There is plenty of room on the Mariner's face for expression. He grew
red, and his eyebrows were eloquent as he looked at the card.
"Oh--er--yes, I've seen him, I think," he mumbled, "when I was in
Scotland last. Odd he happens to be here."

"He only arrived this morning, on important business," Nell explained.
"If it weren't for that, he would have asked to bring us back to our
hotel, but it was something that had to be attended to without a
moment's delay, so he was obliged to leave us at once. He was on the way
to the Hotel de l'Europe, where he hoped to find the people he'd come to
seek."

No need for me to see that card. I knew well who was the hero of the
girls' adventure, and would have guessed without the aid of Starr's
expression. He saw that I guessed, and turned to me with a