thought of everything.

"Good night, Miss Prendergast," I said. "You have done me a good turn. I
shall never forget it!" And as the only means at my disposal for showing
my gratitude, I kissed her hand.

She coloured up like a girl.

"It's a long time since any one did that to a silly old woman like me,"
she said musingly. "Was it you or your brother," she asked abruptly,
"who nearly broke my poor girl's heart?"

"I shouldn't like to say," I answered; "but I don't think, speaking
personally, that Monica ever cared enough about me for me to plead
guilty."

She sniffed contemptuously.

"If that is so," she said, "all I can say is that you seem to have all
the brains of your family!"

With that I took my leave.

* * * * *

I reached the ballroom vestibule without meeting a soul. The place was
crowded with people, officers in uniform, glittering with decorations,
women in evening dress, coachmen, footmen, chauffeurs, waiters.
Everybody was talking sixteen to the dozen, and there were such dense
knots of people that at first I couldn't see Monica. Two policemen were