r tickets, and turned us forth into a gray,
foggy morning to seek the food and shelter adapted to our purses
and tastes. Every one, of course, emerged from seclusion only at the
ultimate moment; and, far from holding any lengthy conversation with
Miss Falconer, I was lucky to stumble upon her in the vestibule, help
her descend, find a taxi for her at the exit, and see her smile back at
me where I stood hatless as she drove away.

While I waited for my own cab I found myself beside Mr. John Van
Blarcom, who eyed me with mingled hostility and pity, as if I were
a cross between a lunatic and a thief. I returned his stare coolly;
indeed, I found it braced me. Left to myself, I had experienced a
creeping doubt as to the girl's activities and my own intelligence; but
as soon as this fellow glared at me, all my confidence returned.

"Well, Mr. Bayne," he remarked sardonically, breaking the silence, "I
suppose you're worrying for fear I'll give you another piece of good
advice. Don't you fret! From now on you can hang yourself any way you
want to. I'd as soon talk to a man in a padded cell and a strait-jacket.
Only don't blame me when the gendarmes come for you next week."

"Oh, go to the devil!" I retorted curtly. It was a relief; I had
been wanting to say it ever since we had first met. His jaw shot out
menacingly, and for an instant he squared off from me with the look of
the professional boxer; but, rather to my disappointment, he thought
better of it and turned a contemptuous back.

Upon leaving Genoa I had reserved a room at the Ritz by telegraph. I
drove there now, and refreshed myself with a bath and breakfast, casting
about me meanwhile for some mode of occupying the hours till noon. There
were various tasks, I knew, that should have claimed me; a visit to the
police to secure a _carte de sejour_, the presentation of my credentials
as an ambulance-driver, a polite notification to friends that I had
arrived. These things should have been my duty and pleasure, but somehow
they were uninviting. Nothing appealed to me, I realized with sudden
enlightenment, except a certain appointment that I had already made.

I went out, to find that the fog was lifting and spring was in the air.
Since my dinner the previous night I had felt an odd exhilaration, a
pleasure quickened by the staccato sparkle of the French tongue against
my ears, the pale-blue uniforms, and gay French faces glimpsed as the
train had stopped at various li