ve too many
younger sisters."

"Well, let me see. I shall be going back to Surbiton the day after
to-morrow. How would it be if you were to come with me?"

"Oh, Mrs.--Mrs.----" The smile wavered, but it held its place.

"Mrs. Jurd. If we suited each other you might stay with me, at any rate
for a week or two. I've been a long time looking out for a companion."

Miss Keating's smile was now strained with hesitation. Mrs. Jurd was not
an invalid, and she was interested in Miss Keating. These were points in
her favour. On the other hand, nobody who could do better would choose
to live with Mrs. Jurd and wind wool and talk about the deep-sea
fishermen.

"I am living," said Mrs. Jurd, "with my nephew at Surbiton. I have to
keep his house for him."

"Then do you think you would really need any one?"

"Indeed I do. My nephew isn't a companion for me. He's in the city all
day and out most evenings, or he brings his friends in and they get
smoking."

Miss Keating's smile was now released from its terrible constraint. A
slight tremor, born of that deliverance, passed over her face, and left
it rosy. But having committed herself to the policy of hesitation she
had a certain delicacy in departing from it now.

"Are you quite sure you would care to have _me_?"

"My dear, I am quite sure that I don't care to have any one who is not a
lady; and I am quite sure that I am talking to a lady. It is very seldom
in these days that one can be sure."

Miss Keating made a little bow and blushed.

After a great deal of conversation it was settled that she should
exchange the Cliff Hotel for the Metropole that night, and that she
should stay there until she left Southbourne for Surbiton, with Mrs.
Jurd.

When Colonel and Mrs. Hankin looked in to report upon the weather, this
scheme was submitted to them as to supreme judges in a question of
propriety.

Mrs. Tailleur was not mentioned. Her name stood for things that decorous
persons do not mention, except under certain sanctions and the plea of
privilege. The Colonel might mention them to his wife, and his wife
might mention them to Mrs. Jurd, who might pass them on with
unimpeachable propriety to Miss Keating. But these ladies were unable to
discuss Mrs. Tailleur in the presence of the Colonel. Still, as none of
them could do without her, she was permitted to appear in a purified
form, veiled in obscure references, or diminished to an innocent
abstraction.

Miss Keating, Mrs