ll, aiming his boomerang
remarks at a woman whom he knew to be young and graceful, and whose
beauty he was gayly taking upon trust; an old, old interlude, played
many a time and oft.

"What is going on here in this beastly slow old town? Nothing much for
to-night, I fancy," said the aid-de-camp, wondering if a promenade au
clair de la lune or a carriage ride to Ferney would be possible! He
already had noted the purity of the French accent of the fair unknown.
No guttural Swiss patois there, but that crisp elegance of tone which
promised him a flirtation en vraie Parisienne.

"Only Philemon and Baucis, an antique opera, at the Grand Opera House,
and sung by a band of relics of better days, wandering over here!" said
Hawke.

And then it finally dawned upon the blase young staff officer that he
had met Alan Hawke in certain circles where plunging had chased away the
tedium of Indian club life with the delightful sensations of raking in
other people's money.

"Better come up to my rooms then, and have a weed and a bit of ecarte!"
slowly said Anstruther. "We may manage a ride afterward!" Alan Hawke
nodded, and a thirsty gleam lit up his crafty eyes. He instinctively
felt for the little card case containing that solitary twenty-pound
note; it was a gentleman's stake after all. And the would-be suicide
silently invoked the fickle goddess Fortuna!

Captain Anstruther, however, furtively murmured a few words to the
solemn head steward and then leaned back contentedly in his chair.
His ostensible orders for cafe noir and cards, as well as the least
murderous of the obtainable cigars, covered the plan of using a
five-pound note in an adroit personal inquiry. For, the Honorable Anson
Anstruther proposed to ride that very evening, and he did not wish to
bore Major Hawke with his company. He nursed a little scheme of his own.
"Do you make a long stay?" carelessly said the wary Major.

"I intend to leave to-morrow night," gayly answered the other. "I came
over here on a very strange errand. I've got to see an eminent Gorgon
of respectability, who has a finishing school here for the young person
bien clevee," said Anstruther, eyeing the unknown.

"Hardly in your line, Anstruther!" laughed Hawke, casting his eyes
around the depleted table, for Miss Phenie and Miss Genie Forbes had
vanished at last, leaving behind them expanding wave circles of sharply
echoing comment. The noisy Teutons had devoured their seven francs
worth, and