brief glimpse
of Mr. Selingman, let us make the best of it. We see him only because of
a _contretemps_. I think we must be very nice to him and persuade him to
take us to London to-night."

Selingman's shake of the head was final.

"Dear young ladies," he said, "it was delightful to find you here. I came
upon the chance, I admit, but who in Ostend would not be here between six
and eight? We dine, we walk down to the quay, and if you will, you shall
wave your hands and wish us _bon voyage,_ but London just now is
_triste_. It is here you may live the life the _bon Dieu_ sends, where
the sun shines all the time and the sea laps the sands like a great blue
lake, and you, mademoiselle, can wear those wonderful costumes and charm
all hearts. There is nothing like that for you in London."

They ordered dinner and walked afterwards down to the quay. Mademoiselle
Henriette lingered behind with Norgate.

"Let them go on," she whispered. "They have much to talk about. It is but
a short distance, and your steamer will not start before ten. We can walk
slowly and listen to the music. You are not in a hurry, monsieur, to
depart? Your stay here is too short already."

Norgate's reply, although gallant enough, was a little vague. He was
watching Selingman with his companion. They were talking together with
undoubted seriousness.

"Who is Mr. Selingman?" he enquired. "I know him only as a travelling
companion."

Mademoiselle Henriette extended her hands. She shrugged her little
shoulders and looked with wide-open eyes up into her companion's
grave face.

"But who, indeed, can answer that question?" she exclaimed. "Twice he has
been here for flying visits. Once Alice has been to see him in Berlin. He
is, I believe, a very wealthy manufacturer there. He crosses often to
England. He has money, and he is always gay."

"And Mademoiselle Alice?"

"Who knows?" was the somewhat pointless reply. "She came from America.
She arrived here this season with Monsieur le General."

"What General?" Norgate asked. "A Belgian?"

"But no," his companion corrected. "All the world knows that Alice is the
friend of General le Foys, chief of the staff in Paris. He is a very
great soldier. He spends eleven months working and one month here."

"And she is also," Norgate observed meditatively, "the friend of Herr
Selingman. Tell me, mademoiselle, what do you suppose those two are
talking of now? See how close their heads are together. I don't th