to Pelham Lodge without detriment to his carefully polished patent shoes. The neighborhood was entirely strange to him and he was surprised to fin

d in an extremely subdued style. It was dimly, almost insufficiently lit, and there was a faint but not unpleasant odor in the drawing-room which reminded him of incense. The room itself almost took his breath away. It was entirely French. The ha

one moment, sir," the man announced. "Mr. Wea

ed to fit into its place. Somehow or other, too, nothing appeared new. Everything seemed subdued by time into its proper tone. He began to wonder what sort of woman the presiding genius over such perfection could be. Then, with a quaint tra

n outside did not immediately enter. Apparently she had turned round to listen to

you that I did the best I could. It is true that the young man is i

ctually stopped Mr. Weatherley's protestations. Yet, for all its softness and for all its m

eave such a matter in your hands. It was not likely that among your acquaintances there was one whom I would have cared to w

e almost cameo-like in their sensitive perfection. Her eyes were large and soft and brown, her hair a Titian red, worn low and without ornament. Her dress was of pale blue satin, which somehow had the effect of being made in a single piece, without seam or joining. Her neck and throat, exquisitely white, were bare except for a singl

aking to you," he said. "Glad to see you, Chet

d softly as she

"One foggy day my husband took me to Tooley Street, and I did not believe that anything good could come out of the yell

ed to have forgotten to draw away, and smiling down into her upturned face. "I w

hat you came and I hope that we can make it pleasant for you. I

h. Then she turned away to welcome some other guests, who were at that moment announ

any one her

," he a

Arnold bent his head and listened with a cu

her. He is a person who lives in the flood of adventures. He has taken part in five wars, he has been tried more than once for political offenses. He has been banished from what is really our nat

e-skinned, with deep-set eyes and worn face. He had still some share of

other," Arnold declared. "Will

to hear. He fought with the Boers, but we will not speak of that. Mr. and Mrs.

nd's friends," he de

"I am going to like you, I am sure. Come, there is Mr.

was apparently a middle-aged man-clean-shav

thout a doubt,"

ffure-she has looked at you already more than once. Her name is Lad

deliberately and bac

for me to say abou

Blennington. Then there is Lady Templeton-that fluffy little thing behind my hu

e," Arnold adm

nd waited. Arnold, howe

f the man who stands alone near the door-the one

tle man, sleek and well-dressed, with black hair, very large pearl studs, black moustache and imperial. Mrs. We

him, but I warn you that it will not be so easy as with those others, for he is also a man of schemes. I am sorry, but I must send

shillings a week, and occupying almost the bottom stool in his office, could yet be entirely and completely at his ease in this exalted company. More than once Arnold caught his hostess's eye, and each time he felt, for some unknown reason, a little thrill of pleasure at the faint relaxing of her lips, the glance of sympathy which shone across the roses. Life was a good place, he thought to himself, for these few hours, at any rate. And then, as he leaned back in his place for a moment, Ruth's words seemed suddenly traced with a finger of fire upon the dim wall. To-night was to be a night of mysteries. To-night the great adventure was to be born. He glanced around the table. There was, indeed, an air of mystery about some of these guests, something curiously aloof, something which it was impossible to put into words. The man Starling, for instance, seemed queerly placed here. Count Sabatini was another of the guests who seemed somehow to be outside the little circle. For minutes together he sat sometimes in grim silence. About him, too

en to make guesses all the time. Why does Mr. Starling look so much like an unwilling

nnington

One so seldom meets any one worth talking to who doesn't know everything there is that shouldn't be k

ps, is in the air?

Lady Blenning

I believe. They say that Mr. Weatherley was wrecked there and Sabatini locked him

should think," Arnold murmured, "who would

him with a que

ough it, too. She certainly is one of the loveliest women I ever saw

ery kind to me,

and. The poor man ought to have known better than to have married h

s conscious of a strong desire not to discuss his hostes

is little island in the Mediterranean, w

to South America. She had some small fortune, I believe, but when she came back they were

her," he remarke

ington sho

replied. "I admire he

ot like her,"

her shoulde

it is true,

yet you are willin

at him ap

and because my own friends are none too numerous. With the exception of those worthy friends of our host and his wife who are seated upon your right-Mr. a

Rosario," Ar

are respectable and sometimes they are not. It really doesn't matter so far as he is conce

ssured her. "I was asked here to fill up

ir to look at him. He

is secretary, or something

n his office,"

questions. At that moment Mrs. Weatherley rose from h

said. "Before we play bridge, come strai

y motioned to him to move up to his side. His face now was a little flushed, but his nervou

the wife, Chetwode," he said. "She see

as been very kind,

lf, I hope?" Mr.

ld declared. "It has bee

r at the other side of the table. Rosario, bringing

Mr. Weatherley," he said.

e banks of roses. There was something fascinating to him in the unheard conversation of Sabatini and Starling, on the opposite side of the table. Everything they said was in an undertone and the inexp