m one which
I hoped was as brilliant and at the same time more intelligible. What I
put into it was: "You're a _man_, even if you are a mystery, so do hurry
up and interrupt this conversation, which has got beyond me."

Of course, I didn't dream that he could help by word or deed, but I
thought if he just hurled himself blindly into the breach it would be
something. By the time Mr. Caspian could renew his offer, Larry Moore
might be at hand to look after his own interests and Pat's.

Mr. Peter Storm (perhaps I've mentioned this?) is tall and has therefore
very long legs--soldier legs--that is, they can take prodigious strides
as if they had a redoubt or something to carry in record time. Whether
my glance had lassoed him, or whether he _wanted_ to be introduced to
Mrs. Shuster's rich friend, I couldn't tell. Anyhow, he landed among us
like an arrow shot from an unseen bow, and "Jill came tumbling after."
(By the way, "Jill" would be a lovely name for Mrs. S. I believe her
real one is _Lily_.)

Mr. Caspian had to stop talking and turn to the newcomers; but before he
stopped his explanation had got as far as "a perfectly businesslike
arrangement: a mortgage on the place could be----"

I wondered if Peter Storm's ears were as quick of hearing as they were
well shaped; and if so whether he would guess what was up, and take
enough impersonal interest in a pretty girl far removed from his sphere
to be sorry for her.

Mrs. Shuster's first words went far to answer that question. "Oh, my
dear Captain and Mrs. Winston, Mr. Storm suggests the most wonderful
plan. I was telling him more about poor Miss Moore's troubles--all I'd
heard from Mr. Caspian--and it seems he knows about Kidd's Pines, dear
Miss Patty's beautiful place which is her own in spite of all
misfortunes." She stopped and giggled a little; then went on in a coy
tone, with an arch glance at her tall protege. "I had to confess that I
could never believe he was an American. But now I have to. He knows too
much about America not to have lived here. He says he used to keep a
winter hotel in Florida, and he knows all about the business. He thinks
Miss Moore might make a fortune turning Kidd's Pines into a hotel--the
right kind of hotel. Isn't it a _wonderful_ idea, to help her poor
father? Oh, I forgot! Mr. Caspian, Mr. Storm! I was telling you about
him, Eddy."

The two men acknowledged the introduction, inapropos as it was. They
were the most extraordinary contra