ou've some surprises in store for you, then. Let me make you acquainted
with your opposite neighbour, Miss Elizabeth Dalstan. I dare say, even if
you haven't been in the States, you know some of our principal actresses
by name."

Philip raised his head and caught a glimpse of a rather pale face, a mass
of deep brown hair, a pleasant smile from a very shapely mouth, and the
rather intense regard of a pair of wonderfully soft eyes, whose colour at
that moment he was not able to determine.

"I have had the pleasure of seeing Miss Dalstan on the stage," he
observed.

"Capital!" Mr. Raymond Greene exclaimed. "We haven't met before, have we,
Mr. Romilly? Something kind of familiar in your face. You are not by way
of being in the Profession, are you?"

Romilly shook his head.

"I am a manufacturer," he acknowledged.

"That so?" his neighbour remarked, a trifle surprised. "Queer! I had a
fancy that we'd met, and quite lately, too. I am in the cinema business.
You may have heard of me--Raymond Greene?"

"I have seen some of your films," Philip told him. "Very excellent
productions, if you will allow me to say so."

"That's pleasant hearing at any time," Mr. Greene admitted, with a
gratified smile. "Well, I can see that we are going to be quite a
friendly party. That's Mr. Busby on your right, Mr. Romilly--some
golfer, I can tell you!--and his friend Mr. Caroll alongside. The lady
next you--"

"My name is Miss Pinsent," the elderly lady indicated declared
pleasantly, replying to Mr. Greene's interrogative glance. "It is my
first trip to America, too. I am going out to see a nephew who has
settled in Chicago."

"Capital!" Mr. Raymond Greene repeated. "Now we are all more or less a
family party. What did you say your line of business was, Mr. Romilly?"

"I don't remember mentioning it," Philip observed, "but I am a
manufacturer of boots and shoes."

Elizabeth Dalstan looked across at him a little curiously. One might have
surmised that she was in some way disappointed.

"Coming over to learn a thing or two from us, eh?" Mr. Greene went on.
"You use all our machinery, don't you? Well, there's Paul Lawton on
board, from Brockton. I should think he has one of the biggest plants in
Massachusetts. I must make you acquainted with him."

Philip frowned slightly.

"That is very kind of you, Mr. Greene," he acknowledged, "but do you know
I would very much rather not talk business with any one while I am on
the steamer? I