n's wedding-present
Mercedes, it was that Mercedes' twin. But there was a strange mushroom
in it.

I would have known Molly's mushroom among a thousand. It was small,
round, compact, and of a dark cream colour. This mushroom was flatter,
wider, more expansive, with an exceedingly slender stem; and in tint
it was of a pale silvery grey. It grew up straight and slim in the
tonneau of the car, all alone, unaccompanied by any similar growths,
or any guardian goblins; and several servants of the hotel were
grouped about, waiting to see it off.

I waited, too, sniffing adventure with the scent of petrol, and
interested in the resemblance to that good Dragon with which I had
been friends; but I was about to turn away at last when a form which
had evidently been squatting behind the car on the other side, rose to
its feet. It was that of Gotteland, and had he been a long-lost uncle
from Australia with his pockets crammed with wills in my favour, I
could not have been more delighted to see him.

As I rushed forward to claim him as my own, Molly and Jack came out of
the hotel.

"Monty!" Jack cried, with a sincerity of joy which warmed my heart.
As for his wife, she cried not at all, but merely gasped.

"What luck for me!" I exclaimed, shaking both Molly's hands so hard
that it was fortunate (as she remarked afterwards) that she had on
"only her rainy-day rings." "I did hope to hear of you at Grenoble,
but scarcely dared think of actually meeting you, even there. In two
minutes more I should have been on the way to catch my train."

"Here's your train, old man," said Jack, indicating the throbbing
automobile.

"My one true love, Mercedes," I remarked, looking fondly at the car.

"Sh!" whispered Molly, with an odd little sound which was like a
giggle strangled at birth. "She's there."

"Who?" I started, bewildered.

"Mercedes."

"I know; the darling! I long to have my hands on her again."

"Oh, Lord Lane, do be careful! You don't understand. I mean the real
Mercedes. The girl who gave me the car. She's sitting there. She'll
hear you."

"It's all right," said Jack. "The motor's making such a row, she
wouldn't catch the words."

"She joined us h--lately," explained Molly hurriedly.

"I remember now. You used to talk rather a lot about her and want us
to meet."

"Well, you have your wish now, dearie," Jack chimed in. "You can
introduce them with your own fair hand."

"Wait--wait." Molly whispered piteously, as