to the Black Sea, the Black Sea to Asia; and so, by
way of India, China, and Japan, you reach the Pacific and San Francisco;
whence one returns quite easily by New York and the White Star Liners. I
began to feel like a globe-trotter already; the Cantankerous Old Lady
was the thin end of the wedge--the first rung of the ladder! I proceeded
to put my foot on it.

[Illustration: EXCUSE ME, I SAID, BUT I THINK I SEE A WAY OUT OF YOUR
DIFFICULTY.]

I leaned around the corner of the tree and spoke. 'Excuse me,' I said,
in my suavest voice, 'but I think I see a way out of your difficulty.'

My first impression was that the Cantankerous Old Lady would go off in a
fit of apoplexy. She grew purple in the face with indignation and
astonishment, that a casual outsider should venture to address her; so
much so, indeed, that for a second I almost regretted my well-meant
interposition. Then she scanned me up and down, as if I were a girl in a
mantle shop, and she contemplated buying either me or the mantle. At
last, catching my eye, she thought better of it, and burst out laughing.

'What do you mean by this eavesdropping?' she asked.

I flushed up in turn. 'This is a public place,' I replied, with dignity;
'and you spoke in a tone which was hardly designed for the strictest
privacy. If you don't wish to be overheard, you oughtn't to shout.
Besides, I desired to do you a service.'

The Cantankerous Old Lady regarded me once more from head to foot. I did
not quail. Then she turned to her companion. 'The girl has spirit,' she
remarked, in an encouraging tone, as if she were discussing some absent
person. 'Upon my word, Amelia, I rather like the look of her. Well, my
good woman, what do you want to suggest to me?'

'Merely this,' I replied, bridling up and crushing her. 'I am a Girton
girl, an officer's daughter, no more a good woman than most others of my
class; and I have nothing in particular to do for the moment. I don't
object to going to Schlangenbad. I would convoy you over, as companion,
or lady-help, or anything else you choose to call it; I would remain
with you there for a week, till you could arrange with your Gretchen,
presumably unsophisticated; and then I would leave you. Salary is
unimportant; my fare suffices. I accept the chance as a cheap
opportunity of attaining Schlangenbad.'

The yellow-faced old lady put up her long-handled tortoise-shell
eyeglasses and inspected me all over again. 'Well, I declare,' she
m