got the best of it, for at any rate she was out of
the deceit and discomfort.

She thought so still more when the women surrounded her in the lounge,
and drew her in among them to take coffee. They were all as merry as
magpies, and seemed to have clean forgotten the tragedy of the ship
except in so far as it lent a thrill to conversation. Several who were
going on the next day to different parts of the country pressed her to
visit them at their homes. Mrs. Stanislaw came up with her claws
sheathed in silk and a strange woman in tow, and murmuring: "I _must_
introduce Mrs. Janis. She is anxious to know all you can tell her of
poor Miss Poole," stood smiling with a feline delight in the encounter.
April turned from her bitter face to the other woman, an
elaborately-dressed shrew with a domineering hook to her nose, and had
the thankful feeling of a mouse who has just missed by a hair's breadth
the click of the trap on its nose.

"I'm afraid I can give you no more information than is already
available," she said distantly.

"It seems to be a most shameful affair," complained Mrs. Janis; "and
the wretched girl apparently has no relatives one can write to."

"None," stated April firmly and gratefully. She could well imagine how
this lady with a grievance would treat the feelings of relations.

"Perhaps Captain Bellew might know of someone," purred Mrs. Stanislaw.

"You had better ask him." It was April's turn to smile, though wryly
enough. "He will deal with you without the gloves," she thought, and
turned away from them.

The lounge was a pleasant place, with French windows leading into the
garden; deep chairs and palms were scattered everywhere, and it smelled
fragrantly of coffee and cigars. Groups of men and women clustered
about the small tables, smoking and talking. One corner was fenced off
by a little counter, from behind which a distinguished-looking waiter
dispensed cocktails and liqueurs with the air of a duke bestowing
decorations. This was Leon, who knew the pet drinks and secret sins of
everyone in South Africa, but whose discreet eyes told nothing. The
knowledge he possessed of men, women, and things would have made a
fascinating volume, but no one had been able to unseal his lips. He
hardly ever spoke, simply mixing the drinks and indicating with his
hand the tables to which they should be carried. April was in the
presence of a personage without being aware of it. Neither did she
know