The barest flicker of a smile stirred his lips.

"No, Madam. I had not been drinking last night--that is, not in the
sense the officers declared I had. It is true that I take a drink
once in a while, when I have been riding or driving all day, or when
I am cold. I have absolutely no appetite."

She brushed her cheeks with the poppies, and for a brief second the
flowers threw a most beautiful color over her face and neck.

"What was your object in climbing on the box of my carriage and
running away with it?"

Quick as a flash of light he conceived his answer. "Madam, it was a
jest between me and some maids." He had almost said serving-maids,
but the thought of Nancy checked this libel.

"Between you and some maids?"--faintly contemptuous. "Explain, for I
believe an explanation is due me."

His gaze was forced to rove again. "Well, Madam, it is truly
embarrassing. Two maids were to enter a carriage and I was to drive
them away from the embassy, and once I had them in the carriage I
thought it would be an admirable chance to play them a trick."

"Pray, since when have serving-maids beein allowed exit from the main
hall of the British embassy?"

Mr. Robert was positive that the shadow of a sarcastic smile rested
for a moment on her lips. But it was instantly hidden under the