she chose. The unattached ladies put their heads
together and discussed her with little peals of laughter. To all of
these things she remained indifferent. She ordered a supper which she
ate mechanically, and wine which she scarcely drank. All the while she
was considering. Now that she was here what could she do? Of whom was
she to make inquiries? She scanned the faces of the newcomers with a
certain grave curiosity which puzzled them. She neither invited nor
repelled notice. She remained entirely at her ease.

Monsieur Albert, during one of his peregrinations round the room, passed
close to her table. She stopped him.

"I trust that Mademoiselle is well served!" he remarked with a little
bow.

"Excellently, I thank you," she answered.

He would have passed on, but she detained him.

"You have very many visitors here," she remarked. "Is it the same
always?"

He smiled.

"To-night," he declared, "it is nothing. There are many who come here
every evening. They amuse themselves here."

"You have a good many strangers also?" she asked.

"But certainly," he declared. "All the time!"

"I have a brother," she said, "who was here eleven nights ago--let me
see--that would be last Tuesday week. He is tall and fair, about
twenty-one, and they say like me. I wonder if you remember him."

Monsieur Albert shook his head slowly.

"That is strange," he declared, "for as a rule I forget no one. Last
Tuesday week I remember perfectly well. It was a quiet evening. La Scala
was here--but of the rest no one. If Mademoiselle's brother was here it
is most strange."

Her lip quivered for a moment. She was disappointed.

"I am so sorry," she said. "I hoped that you might have been able to
help me. He left the Grand Hotel on that night with the intention of
coming here--and he never returned. I have been very much worried ever
since."

She was no great judge of character, but Monsieur Albert's sympathy did
not impress her with its sincerity.

"If Mademoiselle desires," he said, "I will make inquiries amongst the
waiters. I very much fear, however, that she will obtain no news here."

He departed, and Phyllis watched him talking to some of the waiters and
the leader of the orchestra.

Presently he returned.

"I am very sorry," he announced, "but the brother of Mademoiselle could
not have come here. I have inquired of the garcons, and of Monsieur
Jules there, who forgets no one. They answer all the same."

"Thank you v