rst floor and Clodagh rose, her expression changed
again.

"Are you located on this floor? How delightful! We are neighbours. I am
number five. What are you?"

"Seven," Clodagh said gently, speaking for the first time. There was
something very strange to her in this meeting--something not altogether
unpleasant. In the two years since they had met--and in the light of
her last evening in Venice--the image of Lady Frances Hope had become
slightly distorted. And there was a sense of surprise, of reassurance
in finding her so kindly, so gracious, so unalarming.

"Seven!" Lady Frances repeated. "Delightful! You must dine with me
to-night. I have a private room, and am quite alone. It will be an act
of charity. I am on my way south. By the way, where are you bound for?"

Clodagh smiled.

"I am going home."

"Home?"

"To England."

"England! My dear child, not England in February? Why, the atmosphere
is a combination of fog and sleet; and the people----" She made a
gesture of horror. "Everybody who hasn't influenza is either expecting
it or shaking it off."

Clodagh laughed a little.

"I have never had influenza. It will be an experience. But I must look
after my maid. Travelling is new to her."

She glanced down the corridor to where Simonetta was awaiting her
beside a mountain of luggage.

Lady Frances made haste to echo her laugh.

"Well, well!" she said. "It's good to have the enthusiasm of youth. But
you will dine with me? Dinner in an hour."

Clodagh hesitated. Yesterday she would have ardently avoided a meeting
with Lady Frances Hope. Now that it had been thrust upon her, it seemed
to possess no danger. What was it Gore had said on that memorable
night? "I am not depreciating Lady Frances Hope or her social
standing----" Very swiftly she recalled the words and construed them in
the light of her present feelings. After all, she was not the child she
had been two years ago. And it was not Lady Frances, but the set that
surrounded her, to which Gore took exception.

Her companion, seeing the hesitation in her eyes, gave a quick, bright
smile.

"Do come! I will give you news of--every one."

Clodagh coloured slightly.

"Very well!" she said. "In an hour. Thank you very much!"

And with an agreeable, unfamiliar sense of interest and excitement, she
turned and passed down the corridor to where Simonetta stood.

Before opening her own door, Lady Frances Hope stood for a few seconds
watching the retr