ell upon the letter he sprang to his feet.

'Hello, Gustavo! Is that for me?'

Gustavo bowed.

'_Ecco_! She is at last arrive, ze lettair for which you haf so moch
weesh.' He bowed a second time and presented it. 'Meestair Jayreen
Ailyar!'

The young man laughed.

'I don't wish to hurt your feelings, Gustavo, but I'm not sure I should
answer if my eyes were shut.'

He picked up the letter, glanced at the address to make sure--the name
was Jerymn Hilliard, Jr.--and ripped it open with an exaggerated sigh of
relief. Then he glanced up and caught Gustavo's expression. Gustavo came
of a romantic race; there was a gleam of sympathetic interest in his eye.

'Oh, you needn't look so knowing! I suppose you think this is a
love-letter? Well it's not. It is, since you appear to be interested, a
letter from my sister informing me that they will arrive to-night, and
that we will pull out for Riva by the first boat to-morrow morning. Not
that I want to leave you, Gustavo, but--Oh thunder!'

He finished the reading in a frowning silence while the waiter stood at
polite attention, a shade of anxiety in his eye--there was usually
anxiety in his eye when it rested on Jerymn Hilliard, Jr. One could never
foresee what the young man would call for next. Yesterday he had rung the
bell and demanded a partner to play lawn tennis, as if the hotel kept
partners laid away in drawers like so many sheets.

He crumpled up the letter and stuffed it in his pocket.

'I say, Gustavo, what do you think of this? They're going to stay in
Lucerne till the tenth--that's next week--and they hope I won't mind
waiting; it will be nice for me to have a rest. A _rest_, man, and I've
already spent three days in Valedolmo!'

'_Si_, signore, you will desire ze same room?' was as much as Gustavo
thought.

'Ze same room? Oh, I suppose so.'

He sank back into his chair and plunged his hands into his pockets with
an air of sombre resignation. The waiter hovered over him, divided
between a desire to return to his siesta, and a sympathetic interest in
the young man's troubles. Never before in the history of his connexion
with the Hotel du Lac had Gustavo experienced such a munificent,
companionable, expansive, entertaining, thoroughly unique and
inexplicable guest. Even the fact that he was American scarcely accounted
for everything.

The young man raised his head and eyed his companion gloomily.

'Gustavo, have you a sister?'

'A sister?' Gustavo's