life. Incidentally, as like as not, he'll strike a car that's
going to the Ball and ask for a lift."

"I expect he will," said Jill. "There must be any amount on the way."

"All right," said my sister. "Tell Fitch to carry on."

Twenty minutes later that good helmsman set us down at the main entrance
to the Albert Hall.

* * * * *

The conditions prevailing within that edifice suggested that few, if
any, ticket-holders had been deterred from attending by the conditions
prevailing without. The boxes were full, the floor was packed, the
corridors were thronged with eager shining revellers, dancing and
strolling and chattering to beat the band, which was flooding every
corner of the enormous building with an air of gaiety so infectious that
even the staid Jonah began to grumble that the dance would be over
before the girls emerged from the cloakroom.

The Field of the Cloth of Gold cannot have presented a more splendid
spectacle. True, there was nothing of the pageant about the function,
neither were Pomp and Chivalry among the guests. But Grace was there,
and Ease and Artlessness, lending the scene that warmth and life and
verity which Form and Ceremony do not allow.

The utter hopelessness of encountering my lady of the limousine was so
apparent that I relegated a ridiculous notion which I had been
harbouring to the region of things impossible, and determined to think
about it no more. For all that, I occasionally found myself scanning the
crowd of strangers and wondering whether there was one amongst them
whose voice I knew. It was during one of these lapses that I heard my
name.

"Who have you lost?" asked Maisie Dukedom, all radiant as a gold
shepherdess.

"Dance with me," said I, "and I'll tell you."

She glanced at a tiny wrist-watch.

"I promised I wouldn't stay more than an hour," she said, "and I ought
to be going. But I want to thank you for that beautiful rug. If I give
you the next, will you get the car for me as soon as it's over?"

"If you must go."

She nodded, and we pushed off into the rapids.

"And now, who is it?" she demanded.

"I thought you were going to thank me for the rug."

She made a little grimace of impatience.

"The best way I can thank you is to tell you the truth. Jack and I went
to buy a rug at Lucifer's."

"That's where we got yours."

She pinched my arm.

"Will you listen? We must have got to the shop directly you'd left. The
one