int snatches of a vibrant soprano came knocking at our
tired ears.

Mechanically we listened.

"_When you come to the end of a perfect day...."_

Berry turned to me.

"They must have seen us come in," he said.

* * * * *

It was with a grateful heart that I telegraphed the first thing on
Saturday morning to Mrs. Hamilton Smythe of Fair Lawns, Torquay, asking
_pro forma,_ whether Pauline Roper, now in her service, was sober,
honest and generally to be recommended to be engaged as cook.

As she had been for six years with the lady, and was only leaving
because the latter was quitting England to join her husband in Ceylon,
it was improbable that the reference would be unflattering. Moreover,
Daphne had taken to her at once. Well-mannered, quiet, decently attired
and respectful, she was obviously a long way superior to the ordinary
maid. Indeed, she had admitted that her father, now dead, had been a
clergyman, and that she should have endeavoured to obtain a position as
governess if, as a child, she had received anything better than the
rudest education. She had, she added, been receiving fifty pounds a
year. Hesitatingly she had inquired whether, since the employment was
only temporary, we should consider an increase of ten pounds a year
unreasonable.

"Altogether," concluded my sister, "a thoroughly nice-feeling woman. I
offered her lunch, but she said she was anxious to try and see her
sister before she caught her train back, so she didn't have any. I
almost forgot to give her her fare, poor girl. In fact, she had to
remind me. She apologized very humbly, but said the journey to London
was so terribly expensive that she simply couldn't afford to let it
stand over."

We had lunched at Ranelagh, and were sitting in a quiet corner of the
pleasant grounds, taking our ease after the alarms and excursions of the
day before.

Later on we made our way to the polo-ground.

Almost the first person we saw was Katharine Festival.

"Hurray," said Daphne. "I meant to have rung her up last night, but what
with the Camille episode and dining out I forgot all about it. When I
tell her we're suited, she'll be green with envy."

Her unsuspecting victim advanced beaming. Being of the opposite sex, I
felt sorry for her.

"Daphne, my dear," she announced, "I meant to have rung you up last
night. I've got a cook."

The pendulum of my emotions described the best part of a semicircle, and
I fel