At this moment, in the most unexpected manner, Elvira burst into tears.

"My voice!" she cried. "Leon, if I stay here longer I shall lose my
voice!"

"You shall not stay another moment," cried the actor.

"If I have to beat in a door, if I have to burn the town, I shall find
you shelter."

With that, he replaced the guitar, and, comforting her with some
caresses, drew her arm through his.

"Monsieur Stubbs," said he, taking off his hat, "the reception I offer
you is rather problematical; but let me beseech you to give us the
pleasure of your society. You are a little embarrassed for the moment;
you must, indeed, permit me to advance what may be necessary. I ask it
as a favour; we must not part so soon after having met so strangely."

"Oh, come, you know," said Stubbs, "I can't let a fellow like you----"
And there he paused, feeling somehow or other on a wrong tack.

"I do not wish to employ menaces," continued Leon, with a smile; "but if
you refuse, indeed I shall not take it kindly."

"I don't quite see my way out of it," thought the undergraduate; and
then, after a pause, he said, aloud and ungraciously enough, "All right.
I--I'm very much obliged, of course." And he proceeded to follow them,
thinking in his heart, "But it's bad form, all the same, to force an
obligation on a fellow."

CHAPTER V

Leon strode ahead as if he knew exactly where he was going; the sobs of
Madame were still faintly audible, and no one uttered a word. A dog
barked furiously in a courtyard as they went by; then the church clock
struck two, and many domestic clocks followed or preceded it in piping
tones. And just then Berthelini spied a light. It burned in a small
house on the outskirts of the town, and thither the party now directed
their steps.

"It is always a chance," said Leon.

The house in question stood back from the street behind an open space,
part garden, part turnip-field; and several outhouses stood forward from
either wing at right angles to the front. One of these had recently
undergone some change. An enormous window, looking towards the north,
had been effected in the wall and roof, and Leon began to hope it was a
studio.

"If it's only a painter," he said, with a chuckle, "ten to one we get as
good a welcome as we want."

"I thought painters were principally poor," said Stubbs.

"Ah!" cried Leon, "you do not know the world as I do. The poorer the
better for us!"

And the trio advanced into the