The flight of steps led them to a wide veranda, eloquent of comfort
with its deep wicker rockers and hammocks piled temptingly with
cushions. Then came the wide double doors, and, within, a long,
high-ceilinged room whose appointment in every detail spoke of wealth
and taste and the hand of a lavish spender. And into this background
the slender form of the girl in the close-fitting, becoming gown
entered as harmoniously as it had the other day when clad in khaki and
against a background of limitless desert.

The floor here was of hard wood, polished until it shone dully like a
mirror in a shaded room. No rugs save the two great bear-skins, one
black, the other white; no pictures beyond the one great painting
against the farther wall. There was a fire-place, wide and deep and
rock-bound. And yonder, a dull gleam as of ebony, a grand piano.
Leather chairs, all elegant, soft, luxurious.

She would leave them here, she said, smiling, and see if there was
anything left to eat. And while they marveled at finding the splendid
comfort of Fifth Avenue here on the far rim of the desert, a little
Japanese boy in snowy linen bowed himself in to them and invited them
to follow. They went down a long hallway after his softly pattering
footsteps and were shown into a large airy bath-room, with a glimpse
beyond of a cozy sitting-room.

"You wish prepare for luncheon, honorable sirs," said the boy, his
teeth and eyes shining in one flash. "You find rest-room there. I call
for you. Anything?"

Conniston told him that there was nothing further required, and he