ut by Takakika, his assistant, a Japanese whom Mr.
Wellington brought on from the Bohemian Club, I think, in San
Francisco."

If Koltsoff did not catch Mrs. Wellington's intimation that he must
have learned of the presence of Rambon in her kitchen,--which might
have been more accurately described as a laboratory,--Anne Wellington
did, and she hastened to intervene.

"Oh, Prince Koltsoff," she said, "I have been so interested in those
torpedo boats out there. They 've been dashing about the lightship all
through lunch. What is the idea, do you know?"

The Prince glanced out of the window.

"I cannot imagine." He gazed over the ocean in silence for several
minutes. "Have you a telescope?" he said at length.

Anne nodded.

"The large glass is on that veranda. And you 'll excuse me until half
after three, won't you?"

"Until half after three," said the Prince, still rather ruffled as the
result of his duel with the mother.

Then he went out on the porch and for an hour had the torpedo boats
under his almost continuous gaze.

"Nothing but hide and seek," he muttered as he finally snapped the
shutter of the glass and went to his room to dress.

He had quite recovered his spirits when he handed Anne Wellington into
the motor car. Armitage had half turned and she caught his eyes. Just
the faintest suspicion of a smile appeared on her face as she leaned
forward.

"Along the Ocean Drive, McCall, down Bellevue Avenue, past Easton's
Beach, and out through Paradise. Drive slowly, please."

Armitage touched his cap and the car was soon rolling along the Ocean
Drive. They had not turned Bateman's Point when Anne had proof of the
interest which the advent of the Prince had excited among her set. The
Wadsworth girls with young Pembroke, Delaney Drew on horseback, and
several others were gathered on the grass of the Point, watching the
finish of the race for the Astor cups off Brenton's Reef. As the
Wellington car rolled slowly by, every one withdrew attention from the
exciting finish which three of the yachts were making, and gazed so
hard at the Prince that some of them forgot to return Anne's nod. But
the girl understood and smiled inwardly, not altogether without pride.

On Bellevue Avenue old Mrs. Cunningham-Jones all but fell out of her
carriage, while Minnie Rensselaer, who had been cool lately, was all
smiles. And the entrance to the Casino, as Miss Wellington afterward
described it, might have been