brushed past him he distinguished Pandora's face--with Mrs.
Dangerfield he always spoke of her as Pandora--under the veil worn
to protect it from the sea-damp. He stopped, turned, hurried after
her, threw away his cigar--then asked her if she would do him the
honour to accept his arm. She declined his arm but accepted his
company, and he allowed her to enjoy it for an hour. They had a
great deal of talk, and he was to remember afterwards some of the
things she had said. There was now a certainty of the ship's
getting into dock the next morning but one, and this prospect
afforded an obvious topic. Some of Miss Day's expressions struck
him as singular, but of course, as he was aware, his knowledge of
English was not nice enough to give him a perfect measure.

"I'm not in a hurry to arrive; I'm very happy here," she said. "I'm
afraid I shall have such a time putting my people through."

"Putting them through?"

"Through the Custom-House. We've made so many purchases. Well,
I've written to a friend to come down, and perhaps he can help us.
He's very well acquainted with the head. Once I'm chalked I don't
care. I feel like a kind of blackboard by this time anyway. We
found them awful in Germany."

Count Otto wondered if the friend she had written to were her lover
and if they had plighted their troth, especially when she alluded to
him again as "that gentleman who's coming down." He asked her about
her travels, her impressions, whether she had been long in Europe
and what she liked best, and she put it to him that they had gone
abroad, she and her family, for a little fresh experience. Though