aid will procure some necessaries while we
eat, and I mean to get some clothes later, but, if you would like a
deposit of, say, a hundred dollars----?"

He felt for his pocketbook, but, to the credit of the clerk be it said,
the suggestion was negatived with a smile.

"No need at all for any deposit, sir," was the answer. "I wouldn't be
on to my job it I didn't know how and when to discriminate in matters
of that sort. Will you register?"

Curtis took a pen and wrote:

"Mr. and Lady Hermione Curtis, and maid." Some imp of adventure moved
him to inscribe "Pekin" in the column for visitors' home addresses.
But the clerk was obviously impressed by Hermione's title, no less than
the singularly remote locality the couple hailed from. He leant back,
and took a key from its hook.

"Page!" he said. "Show Mr. Curtis and her ladyship to Suite F." Then
he added, as an afterthought: "Would you like dinner served in your
sitting-room, sir?"

"I think so," said Curtis, "but my wife shall decide a little later."

Hermione kept silent until they were safely behind the closed door of a
well-furnished and delightfully spacious apartment.

"Of course, I bear all expenses," she said firmly.

"What--are we quarreling already?" he asked.

"No, but----"

"You think I am being wildly extravagant. Why, bless your ladyship's
dear little heart, this hotel doesn't begin to know how to charge like
a taxi. Now, no argument till to-morrow. An American millionaire can
really be quite a decent sort of fellow at times, and, if we may assume
that this is one of the times, please let me play at being a
millionaire--for once."

She raised her veil, and looked at him, straight in the eyes.

"Why are you so different from other men? Why have I never before
spoken to a man like you?" she asked.

"But I am not different, and there are plenty of men like me; the other
poor chaps haven't had my glorious chance of serving you--that is all.
Now, won't you go and see if your room is comfortable, and whether or
not Marcelle's quarters are just right? Then come back here, and we'll
discuss menus, for which purpose I shall ring for a waiter _ek dum_."

"Is that Chinese?"

"No, Hindustani. It means 'at once,' but every hotel-wala east of Suez
understands it."

Still she lingered.

"Have you any sisters--a mother living?" she said.

"No. I'm the sole survivor of my own family. But I mean to give
myself the pleasure of a full introd