he borders of her own part of the world, and, though
she now regarded it with the condescending eyes of a Parisian and Londoner,
she found pleasure in looking upon it and in recognising old landmarks and
recent innovations. She saw, on the Greensward separating the promenade
from the beach, that a rustic seat had been elaborately built by the
Council round the great trunk of the only tree in Frinton; and she decided
that there had been questionable changes since her time. And in this way
she went on. However, the splendour and reality of the sun, making such an
overwhelming contrast with the insubstantial phenomena of the gloomy night,
prevented undue cerebral activity. She reflected that Frinton on a dark
night and Frinton on a bright morning were not like the same place, and she
left it at that, and gazed at the facade of the Excelsior Hotel, wondering
for an instant why she should be interested in it, and then looking swiftly
away.

She had to glance at all the shops, though none of them was open except the
dairy-shop; and in the shopping street, which had a sunrise at one end and
the railway station at the other, she lit on the new palatial garage.

"My car may be in there," she thought.

After the manner of most car-owners on tour, she had allowed the chauffeur
to disappear with the car in the evening where he listed, confident that
the next morning he and it would reappear cleansed and in good running
order.

The car was in the garage, almost solitary on a floor of asphalt under a
glass roof. An untidy youth, with the end of a cigarette clinging to his
upper lip in a way to suggest that it had clung there throughout the night
and was the last vestige of a jollification, seemed to be dragging a length
of hose from a hydrant towards the car, the while his eyes rested on a
large notice: "Smoking absolutely prohibited. By order."

Then from the other extremity of the garage came a jaunty, dapper,
quasi-martial figure, in a new grey uniform, with a peaked grey cap, bright
brown leggings, and bright brown boots to match--the whole highly brushed,
polished, smooth and glittering. This being pulled out of his pocket a
superb pair of kid gloves, then a silver cigarette-case, and then a silver
match-box, and he ignited a cigarette--the unrivalled, wondrous first
cigarette of the day--casting down the match with a large, free gesture. At
sight of him the untidy youth grew more active.

"Look 'ere," said the being to the