oorway, his fine eyes beaming. He looked very handsome, Lavinia
thought, and she blushed under his ardent gaze.

He had washed, he had shaved, he had put on his best suit and his wig
concealed the cut on his forehead. He was altogether a different
Lancelot from the bedraggled, woe-begone, haggard young man whom she had
found in the last stage of misery two hours ago. He had moreover,
enlisted the help of the old woman whom Lavinia had met on the stairs at
her first visit and the place was swept and tidied. The room as well as
its occupant was now quite presentable.

"I've brought you something to eat," stammered Lavinia quite shyly to
her own surprise. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Not if you'll do me the honour to share it with me."

"Oh, but it will give you so much trouble. And I'm not hungry. I bought
it all for you."

Lavinia was busy emptying the contents of a rush basket which the
good-natured landlord of the "Green Dragon" had given her.

"Have you a plate and a knife and fork? You can't eat with your fingers,
you know."

"I've two plates and two knives and forks, but the knives are not pairs.
I apologise humbly for my poverty stricken household."

"That doesn't matter. I'm not going to touch a morsel."

"Neither am I then. And it isn't my hospitality, remember, but yours.
Why are you such a good Samaritan?"

"You were brave and fought for me. I shall never forget last
night--never."

"It will always be in my memory too, and I want our first meal together
to be in my memory also. Alas! I have no tablecloth."

"But you have plenty of paper," Lavinia laughingly said. "That will do
as well."

Lancelot laughed in unison and seizing a couple of sheets of foolscap he
opened and spread them on the table.

"One for you and one for me, but you see I've put them together," said
he with a roguish gleam in his eye.

"No, they must be separate."

But he had his way.

Soon the banquet was ready and it delighted Lavinia to see how
ravenously the young man ate. At the same time it pained her for it told
of days of privation. Before long they were perfectly at ease and
merrily chatting about nothing in particular, under some circumstances
the best kind of talk. Suddenly he said:

"I'm wondering where my next meal is to come from. I can't expect an
angel to visit me every day."

"Perhaps it will be a raven. Didn't ravens feed Elijah?" said Lavinia
mockingly.

"I believe so, but I'm not Elijah. I'm not eve