moustache--just a trifle Oriental-looking.'

'That's Harold!' the Cantankerous Old Lady rapped out sharply, with
clear conviction. 'The miserable boy! Why on earth hasn't he been round
to see me?'

I reflected that I knew why; but I did not say so. Silence is golden. I
also remarked mentally on that curious human blindness which had made me
conclude at first that the supercilious young man was trying to avoid
_me_, when I might have guessed it was far more likely he was trying to
avoid my companion. I was a nobody; Lady Georgina Fawley was a woman of
European reputation.

'Perhaps he didn't know which hotel you were stopping at,' I put in. 'Or
even that you were here.' I felt a sudden desire to shield poor Harold.

'Not know which hotel? Nonsense, child; he knows I come here on this
precise date regularly every summer; and if he didn't know, is it likely
I should try any other inn, when this is the only moderately decent
house to stop at in Schlangenbad? And the morning coffee undrinkable at
that; while the hash--_such_ hash! But that's the way in Germany. He's
an ungrateful monster; if he comes now, I shall refuse to see him.'

[Illustration: HAROLD, YOU VIPER, WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY TRYING TO AVOID
ME?]

Next morning after breakfast, however, in spite of these threats, she
hailed me forth with her on the Harold hunt. She had sent the
_concierge_ to inquire at all the hotels already, it seemed, and found
her truant at none of them; now she ransacked the _pensions_. At last
she hunted him down in a house on the hill. I could see she was really
hurt. 'Harold, you viper, what do you mean by trying to avoid me?'

'My dear aunt, _you_ here in Schlangenbad! Why, when did you arrive? And
what a colour you've got! You're looking _so_ well!' That clever thrust
saved him.

He cast me an appealing glance. 'You will not betray me?' it said. I
answered, mutely, 'Not for worlds,' with a faltering pair of downcast
eyelids.

'Oh, I'm _well_ enough, thank you,' Lady Georgina replied, somewhat
mollified by his astute allusion to her personal appearance. He had hit
her weak point dexterously. 'As well, that is, as one can expect to be
nowadays. Hereditary gout--the sins of the fathers visited as usual. But
why didn't you come to see me?'

'How can I come to see you if you don't tell me where you are? "Lady
Georgina Fawley, Europe," was the only address I knew. It strikes me as
insufficient.'

His gentle drawl was a capital foi