bore." "All right, General," he said airily. "I'll be there
soon. No hurry, is there?"

"Yes, I want you now!" The order was emphatic. The General's only
military asset was a martinet voice, and he made the most of it.

"Rather rotten, isn't it, interferin' with a fellow in this way?"
muttered Vavasour. "Will you excuse me? I must see what the old boy is
worryin' about. I shall come back soon--Eh, what?"

"I am going out," said Helen; "but we shall meet again. I remain here
a month."

"You'll enter for the tournament?" he asked over his shoulder.

"I--think so. It will be something to do."

"Thanks awfully. And don't forget to-night."

Helen laughed. She could not help it. The younger members of the Wragg
family were eying her sourly through the glass partition. They seemed
to be nice girls too, and she made up her mind to disillusion them
speedily if they thought that she harbored designs on the callow youth
whom they probably regarded as their own special cavalier.

When she passed through the inner doorway to go to her room she
noticed that the General was giving Georgie some instructions which
were listened to in sulky silence. Indeed, that remarkable ex-warrior
was laying down the law of the British parish with a clearness that
was admirable. He had been young himself once,--dammit!--and had as
keen an eye for a pretty face as any other fellow; but no gentleman
could strike up an acquaintance with an unattached female under the
very nose of his mother, not to mention the noses of other ladies who
were his friends. Georgie broke out in protest.

"Oh, but I say, General, she is a lady, an' you yourself said----"

"I know I did. I was wrong. Even a wary old bird like me can make a
mistake. Mrs. Vavasour has just warned my wife about her. It's no
good arguing, Georgie, my boy. Nowadays you can't draw the line too
rigidly. Things permissible in Paris or Nice won't pass muster here.
I'm sorry, Georgie. She's a high stepper and devilish taking, I admit.
Writes for some ha'penny rag--er--for some cheap society paper, I
hear. Why, dash it all, she will be lampooning us in it before we know
where we are. Just you go and tell your mother you'll behave better in
future. Excellent woman, Mrs. Vavasour. She never makes a mistake.
Gad! don't you remember how she spotted that waiter from the Ritz who
gulled the lot of us at the Jetee last winter? Took him for the French
marquis he said he was, every one of us, women an