"Are you a singer, then, or an actress?"

"I am neither," she told him. "I said 'my profession' because it
is the only one to which I have ever tried to belong. I have
never succeeded in obtaining an engagement in this country. I do
not suppose that even if I had persevered I should ever have had
one."

"You have given up the idea, then," he remarked.

"I have given it up," she admitted, a little curtly. "Please do
not think, because I am allowing you to be my companion for a
short time, that you may ask me questions. How fast these taxies
go!"

They drew up at their destination--a well-known restaurant in
Regent Street. He paid the cabman and they descended a flight of
stairs into the grill-room.

"I hope that this place will suit you," he said. "I have not
much experience of restaurants."

She looked around and nodded.

"Yes," she replied, "I think that it will do."

She was very shabbily dressed, and he, although his appearance
was by no means ordinary, was certainly not of the type which
inspires immediate respect in even the grill-room of a