ated.

In response to a snarl that might have come from a menagerie, she
advised him curtly:

"You're at it again!"

Another angry colloquy followed, and once more Mr. Penrose was forced to
subside for the want of an adequate answer.

All the rest of the night the battle continued at intervals, and by
morning not only Wallie but the entire corridor was interested in the
occupant of the room adjoining his.

Wallie was in the office when the door of the elevator opened with a
clang and Mr. Penrose sprang out of it like a starved lion about to hurl
himself upon a Christian martyr. While his jaws did not drip saliva, the
thin nostrils of his bothersome nose quivered with eagerness and anger.

"I've been coming here for twenty-eight years, haven't I?" he demanded.

"Twenty-eight this summer," Mr. Cone replied, soothingly.

"In that time I never have put in such a night as last night!"

"Dear me!" The proprietor seemed genuinely disturbed by the information.

"I could not sleep--I have not closed my eyes--for the battering on my
door of the female in the room adjoining!"

"You astonish me! Let me see----" Mr. Cone whirled the register around
and looked at it. He read aloud:

"Helene Spenceley--Prouty, Wyoming."

Mr. Cone lowered his voice discreetly:

"What was her explanation?"

"She accused me of snoring!" declared Mr. Penrose, furiously. "I heard
the clock strike every hour until morning! Not a wink have I slept--not
a _wink_, Mr. Cone!"

"We can arrange this satisfactorily, Mr. Penrose," Mr. Cone smiled
conciliatingly. "I have no doubt that Miss--er--Spenceley will gladly
change her room if I ask her. I shall place one equally good at her
disposal---- Ah, I presume this is she--let me introduce you."

Although he would not admit it, Mr. Penrose was quite as astonished as
Wallie at the appearance of the person who stepped from the elevator and
walked to the desk briskly. She was young and good looking and wore
suitable clothes that fitted her; also, while not aggressive, she had a
self-reliant manner which proclaimed the fact that she was accustomed to
looking after her own interests. While she was as far removed as
possible from the person Mr. Penrose had expected to see, still she was
the "female" who had "sassed" him as he had not been "sassed" since he
could remember, and he eyed her belligerently as he curtly acknowledged
the introduction.

"Mr. Penrose, one of our oldest guests in point of resid