e demoiselle. He accepted them with a
smile of angelic indulgence.

When they had done they went upstairs; and, on the way, Tinker said, "I
must have a shot at that hair of yours; it--it really gets on my
nerves."

"It's no use," said Elsie with her ready flush. "I brush it as well as
I can; but I can't do it very well, there's such a lot of it."

"Well, I'll do what I can," said Tinker, and he measured with
thoughtful eye the silken mass, tangled and matted by the sea-water.

He led the way into his room, and set her in a chair, took off his
coat, turned up his sleeves, took his hair brushes, and began upon it.
It was his first essay as coiffeur, but his natural and trained
deftness stood him in good stead. He kept a watchful eye on her face
in the glass, and whenever it puckered, brushed more gently; but, at
times, in his absorption in his task, he so far forgot himself as to
hiss like a groom cleaning a horse. In the middle of it Sir Tancred
came in, and it was significant that he saw Tinker's occupation without
a smile, made no joke upon it, but seemed to take it as the most
natural thing in the world that his son should be discharging a
function of the lady's maid. He greeted the children gravely, sat
down, and watched the brushing with a respectful attention. Now and
again he asked Elsie a question, which seemed too idle to be
impertinent, but her answers told him all he wished to know; and
presently he felt, with Tinker, that her uncle was a gentleman in great
need of kicking.

[Illustration: It was his first essay as coiffeur.]

At last Tinker had finished; Elsie rose with a luxurious sigh, and he
looked at his work with fond pride. It was very beautiful, fine hair;
and its sheen of changing light well repaid him for his trouble. Sir
Tancred proposed that they should stroll down to the Casino, and find
her uncle. Lord Crosland joined them in the hall and went with them.
When they came to the Casino, they found a little crowd already
gathered about its doors, waiting for them to open.

But Richard Brand was not in it, and at once Elsie's face grew anxious.
As soon as the doors opened, Sir Tancred went in to ask if her uncle
has made any inquiries about Elsie, or left word where she might find
him. In ten minutes he came out again and said, "No; he has made no
inquiries. Suppose you stroll with Elsie along towards the Condamine,
Crosland; that is the way he would come. Tinker and I will wait he