res changed at
last. Her eyes were lit with mirth, the corners of her mouth quivered.

"Really, Sir John," she said, "I don't know how to thank you. I can
understand now these newspapers when they talk of your magnificent
philanthropy. It is magnificent indeed. And yet--you millionaires
should really, I think, cultivate the art of discrimination. I am so
much obliged to you for your projected benevolence. Frankly, it is the
funniest thing which has ever happened to me in my life. I shall like
to think of it--whenever I feel dull. Good-bye, Anna!"

Annabel sprang up. Sir John waved her back.

"Do I understand you then to refuse my offer?" he asked Anna.

She shot a sudden glance at him. Sir John felt hot and furious. It was
maddening to be made to feel that he was in any way the inferior of
this cool, self-possessed young woman, whose eyes seemed for a moment
to scintillate with scorn. There were one or two bitter moments in his
life when he had been made to feel that gentility laid on with a
brush may sometimes crack and show weak places--that deportment and
breeding are after all things apart. Anna went out.

* * * * *

Her cheeks burned for a moment or two when she reached the street,
although she held her head upright and walked blithely, even humming
to herself fragments of an old French song. And then at the street
corner she came face to face with Nigel Ennison.

"I won't pretend," he said, "that this is an accident. The fates are
never so kind to me. As a matter of fact I have been waiting for you."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Really," she said. "And by what right do you do anything of the
sort?"

"No right at all," he admitted. "Only it is much too late for you to
be out alone. You have been to see your sister, of course. How is
she?"

"My sister is quite well, thank you," she answered. "Would you mind
calling that hansom for me?"

He looked at it critically and shook his head.

"You really couldn't ride in it," he said, deprecatingly. "The horse's
knees are broken, and I am not sure that the man is sober. I would
sooner see you in a 'bus again."

She laughed.

"Do you mean to say that you have been here ever since I came?"

"I am afraid that I must confess it," he answered. "Idiotic, isn't
it?"

"Absolutely," she agreed coldly. "I wish you would not do it."

"Would not do what?"

"Well, follow buses from Russell Square to Hampstead."

"I can assure you,"