and he had not in the least the appearance of a man who could be
easily shaken off. From a fit of furious anger she passed
suddenly and without warning to a state of half hysterical
amusement.

"You are a foolish, absurd person," she declared. "Please go
away. I do not wish you to walk with me."

Tavernake remained imperturbable. She remembered suddenly his
intervention on her behalf.

"If you insist upon knowing," she said, "my name at Blenheim
House was Beatrice Burnay. I am much obliged to you for what you
did for me there, but that is finished. I do not wish to have
any conversation with you, and I absolutely object to your
company. Please leave me at once."

"I am sorry," he answered, "but that is not possible."

"Not possible?" she repeated, wonderingly.

He shook his head.

"You have no money, you have eaten no dinner, and I do not
believe that you have any idea where you are going," he declared,
deliberately.

Her face was once more dark with anger.

"Even if that were the truth," she insisted, "tell me what