pretty green room, which was almost as big as Mrs. May's cabin on the
ship. A white silk dressing-gown hung from a hook. The gold-backed brushes
and crystal bottles from her fitted bag were arranged conveniently. There
were lilies of the valley in a vase.

"Where did those flowers come from?" Angela asked.

"I don't know ma'am. I found them here," said Kate. "Perhaps the railway
people supply them to the state-rooms."

Perhaps they did. But Angela suspected something different. She was
touched and pleased. _He_ must have taken some trouble in getting the
lilies placed in the right room. And it was like him not to have come
forward himself to bid her good-bye. But--suddenly the question sprang
into her head--how had he found out that she was travelling in this train?

All the afternoon she watched the Louisiana plantations, lakes, and bayous
fly by in sunshine and shadow; or she read a novel of the South as it had
been in old days. It was an interesting story and held her attention so
closely that she was late in going to dinner. When at last she went there
was only one chair left, at a table for two. Mr. Nickson Hilliard sat in
the other.




VIII

THE GOLD BAG COMEDY