sorrow that through the stupidity of some member or members of his force
a valued guest had been inconvenienced. Hastily slipping into the
costume and putting a light overcoat on over it Mr. Goldsborough started
in a taxicab up Fifth Avenue. But at Forty-eighth Street a government
mail van, issuing suddenly out of the sideway, smashed squarely into the
side of the taxicab bearing him, with the result that the taxi lost a
wheel and Mr. Goldsborough lost another half hour.

This second delay was due to the fact that his presence upon the spot
was required by a plain-clothes man who took over the investigation of
the collision from the patrolman on the post. To Mr. Goldsborough,
inwardly fuming but outwardly calm and indifferent, it seemed that the
plain-clothes person took an unreasonably long time for his inquiries
touching on the accident. At length, with apologies for detaining him,
the headquarters man--now suddenly become accommodating where before he
had been officially exact and painstaking in his inquisition into causes
and circumstances--personally hailed another taxicab for Mr.
Goldsborough and sent him upon his way.

But, Mr. Goldsborough's chapter of petty troubles was not yet ended; for
the driver of the second taxi stupidly drove to the wrong address,
landing his fare at a house on West Sixty-third Street, clear across
Central Park and nearly halfway across town from Mrs. Hadley-Smith's
home. So, what with first one thing and then another, eleven o'clock had
come and gone before the indignant passenger finally was set down at his
proper destination.

We go back to nine-thirty, which was the hour set and appointed for
inaugurating the All Fools' Day party. Nine-thirty being the hour, very
few of the prospective celebrants arrived before ten. But by ten, or a
little later, most of them were assembled in the big twin drawing-rooms
on the first floor of the Hadley-Smith establishment. These two rooms,
with the study behind them and the wide reception hall that ran
alongside them, took up the most of the first-floor ground space of the
town house. As the first arrivals noted, they had been stripped of
furniture for dancing. One room was quite empty, save for decorations;
the other contained only a table piled with favours. Even the chairs had
been removed, leaving clear spaces along the walls.

It was not such a very large party as parties go, for Mrs. Hadley-Smith
had a reputation for doing her entertaining o