rned abruptly and made his way to the
Tirol.

It came to pass, in the course of the evening, that Mr. Ulstervelt,
supremely confident from the effect of past achievements, drew the
unsuspecting Mrs. Medcroft into a secluded tete-a-tete. It is not of
record that he was ever a diplomatic wooer; one in haste never is.
Suffice it to say, Mrs. Medcroft, her cheeks flaming, her eyes wide with
indignation, suddenly left the side of the indomitable Freddie and
joined the party at the other end of the _entresol_, but not before she
had said to him with unmistakable clearness and decision,--

"You little wretch! How dare you say such silly things to me!"

The rebuff decisive! And he had only meant to be comforting, not to say
self-sacrificing. He'd be hanged if he could understand women nowadays.
Not these women, at least. In high dudgeon he stalked from the room. In
the door he met Brock.

"For two cents," he declared savagely, as if Brock were to blame, "I'd
take the next train for Paris."

Brock watched him down the hall. He drew a handful of small coins from
his pocket, ruefully looking them over. "Two cents," he said. "Hang it
all, I've nothing here but pfennigs and hellers and centimes."

In the course of his wanderings the disconsolate Freddie came upon Mrs.
Odell-Carney and pudgy Mr. Rodney. They were sitting in a quiet corner
of the reading-room. Mr. Rodney had had a hard day. He had climbed a
mountain--or, more accurately speaking, he had climbed half-way up and
then the same half down. He was very tired. Freddie observed from his
lonely station that Mr. Rodney was fast dropping to sleep,
notwithstanding his companion's rapid flow of small talk. It did not
take Freddie long to decide. He was an outcast and a pariah and he was
very lonely. He must have someone to talk to. Without more ado he bore
down upon the couple, and a moment later was tactfully advising the
sleepy Mr. Rodney to take himself off to bed,--advice which that
gentleman gladly accepted. And so it came about that Freddie sat face to
face with the last resort, at the foot of the _chaise-longue_, gazing
with serene adulation into the eyes of a woman who might have had a son
as old as he--if she had had one at all. She had been a coquette in her
salad days; there was no doubt of it. She had encountered fervid
gallants in all parts of the world and in all stations of life. But it
remained for the gallant Freddie Ulstervelt to bowl her over with
surpris