Insensibly she drew near the corner of the building, in abstraction so
deep and still that she was almost upon them when she appreciated the
fact that people were talking just beyond that high, white shoulder of
stone, and was struck by the personal significance of a phrase that
still echoed in ears which it had at first found heedless: "... a
Quaker costume, grey and white, with a cloak . . ."

It never occurred to the girl to stop and eavesdrop; but between that
instant of reawakened consciousness and the moment when she came
around the corner, three voices sealed an understanding:

"You've simply got to make her listen to reason . .."

"Oh, leave that to my well-known art!"

"She'll see a great light before one o'clock or I'm--"

Silence fell like a thunderclap as the Quaker Girl confronted
Harlequin, Columbine, and Sir Francis Drake.

She said coolly: "You were speaking of me, I believe?"

Drake stepped back, swore in his false beard, and disappeared round
the corner in a twinkling.

Columbine snapped like the shrew she masked: "You little sneak!"

And Harlequin capped that with an easy laugh: "Oh, do keep your
temper, Adele. You've less tact than any woman that ever breathed, I
verily believe. Cut along now; I'll square matters for you with Miss
Manwaring--if it's possible."

With a stifled exclamation Columbine caught her cloak round her and
followed Drake.

The accent of the comic was not lost upon the girl. She could not but
laugh a little at Harlequin's undisguised discomfiture.

"So you're nominated for the office of peace-maker, Mr. Savage?"

"I'm afraid so." He shuffled, nervously slapping his well-turned
calves with Harlequin's lath-sword. "I swear," he complained, "I
do believe Adele is crazier than most women most of the time. She's
just been telling me what a fool she made of herself with you. I'm
awfully glad you turned up when you did."

"I noticed that, believe me!"

"Oh, I mean it. Ever since dinner I've been looking for an opportunity
to explain things to you, but until Adele told me your costume just
now--"

"Well?" Sally inquired in a patient tone as he broke off.

"We can't talk here. It's no good place--as you've just proved.
Besides, I've got an appointment with another lady." He grinned
gracelessly. "No, not what you think--not philandering--but in
connection with this same business. I've got to butter thick with
diplomacy an awful lot of mistaken apprehensions before I