joicing to stay with "me aunt". Then in leisurely
enjoyment I would make my toilette and march complacently into the
street. We possess no porter in our modest mansions; ten to one I
should pass through the hall unseen, and even if I had the ill-luck to
encounter a neighbour--well, if my disguise is good enough to deceive
Ralph Maplestone, it can surely defy less interested eyes!

Bridget was as excited as I was. She hustled the orphan out of the
flat, and superintended my toilette as eagerly as though I were dressing
for a wedding, instead of a country visit.

"Praise the fates, we'll see you looking yourself again! I never was in
favour of this dressing up, and playing tricks with a face which anyone
else would be proud to have, and to take care of. Not that you hadn't
more sense than I gave you credit for! We've been a godsend to this
place, and if anyone doubts it, let 'em look at the kitchen book, and
see the pounds of good meat I've made into beef tea with me own hands.
And you running about by day and by night, waiting on 'em all in turns.
There's no doubt but we've done good, but what I say is--why not do it
with your own face?"

"Don't be foolish, Bridget! I couldn't do it! Look at me now!"--I
swirled round to face her, with a rustle of silk and a flare of skirts.
"_Do_ I look the sort of person to wheel out prams, and give tea parties
to widowers, and be looked upon as a prop and support by my neighbours?"

Bridget chuckled.

"Go away wid you then!" said she, and that was the end of the
discussion.

I met no one in the hall. I met no one in the street. I jumped into a
taxi at the corner and drove off to the station without running the
remotest chance of detection. It was so easy that I determined to do it
again! Every now and then just for a change--just to remember what it
was like to look nice! I arrived at the station and took my ticket.
There was no one I knew upon the platform. I walked to the further end,
and took a seat in an empty first-class carriage. The collector came
round and looked at the tickets; there was a banging all down the length
of the train, a sharp call, "Take your seats, please; take your seats!"
The door of my compartment opened and shut. Ralph Maplestone seated
himself in the corner opposite mine!

"How do you do, Miss Wastneys," said he, as cool as a cucumber.

"How do you do, Mr Maplestone," said I, as red as a beetroot.

Was it chance? Was it coincidence