seen him for years, and I don't suppose I shall ever see him again. He
was a friend of Alice Beecher's brother, who was at Harvard. Alice took
me over to meet her brother, and Mr. Maude was there. That's all."

Elsa was plainly disappointed.

"But how do you know, then--? What makes you think that he--?"

"Instinct, again, I suppose. I do know."

"And you've never met him since?"

Betty shook her head. Elsa relapsed into silence. She had a sense of
pathos.

At the further end of the terrace Marvin Rossiter appeared, carrying a
large volume.

"Here we are," he said. "Scared it up at the first attempt. Now then."

He sat down, and opened the book.

"You don't want to hear all about how Jason went there in search of the
Golden Fleece, and how Ulysses is supposed to have taken it in on his
round-trip? You want something more modern. Well, it's an island in the
Mediterranean, as I said, and I'm surprised that you've never heard of
it, Elsa, because it's celebrated in its way. It's the smallest
independent state in the world. Smaller than Monaco, even. Here are
some facts. Its population when this encyclopaedia was printed--there
may be more now--was eleven thousand and sixteen. It was ruled over up