ecently arrived here
in the company of a man some years her senior?' asked the old gentleman,
in haste. 'A man cleanly shaven for the most part, having the appearance
of an opera-singer, and calling himself Signor Smithozzi?'

'We have had arrivals lately,' said the landlord, in the tone of having
had twenty at least--not caring to acknowledge the attenuated state of
business that afflicted Prospect Hotel in winter.

'And among them can your memory recall two persons such as those I
describe?--the man a sort of baritone?'

'There certainly is or was a young couple staying in the hotel; but I
could not pronounce on the compass of the gentleman's voice.'

'No, no; of course not. I am quite bewildered. They arrived in a basket-
carriage, altogether badly provided?'

'They came in a carriage, I believe, as most of our visitors do.'

'Yes, yes. I must see them at once. Pardon my want of ceremony, and
show us in to where they are.'

'But, sir, you forget. Suppose the lady and gentleman I mean are not the
lady and gentleman you mean? It would be awkward to allow you to rush in
upon them just now while they are at dinner, and might cause me to lose
their future patronage.'

'True, true. They may not be the same persons. My anxiety, I perceive,
makes me rash in my assumptions!'

'Upon the whole, I think they must be the same, Uncle Quantock,' said the
young man, who had not till now spoken. And turning to the landlord:
'You possibly have not such a large assemblage of visitors here, on this
somewhat forbidding evening, that you quite forget how this couple
arrived, and what the lady wore?' His tone of addressing the landlord
had in it a quiet frigidity that was not without irony.

'Ah! what she wore; that's it, James. What did she wear?'

'I don't usually take stock of my guests' clothing,' replied the landlord
drily, for the ready money of the first arrival had decidedly biassed him
in favour of that gentleman's cause. 'You can certainly see some of it
if you want to,' he added carelessly, 'for it is drying by the kitchen
fire.'

Before the words were half out of his mouth the old gentleman had
exclaimed, 'Ah!' and precipitated himself along what seemed to be the
passage to the kitchen; but as this turned out to be only the entrance to
a dark china-closet, he hastily emerged again, after a collision with the
inn-crockery had told him of his mistake.

'I beg your pardon, I'm sure; but if you only knew