suitable. We shall be in touch with the canal system, and we shall have
a direct outfall to the sea for our refuse, which is necessary. I shall
have to live in The Hague--my sister and I."

"Ah! You have a sister?" said Mrs. Vansittart, turning in her chair and
looking at him. A woman's interest in a man's undertaking is invariably
centred upon that point where another woman comes into it.

"Yes."

"Unmarried?"

"Yes; Dorothy is unmarried."

Mrs. Vansittart gave several quick little nods of the head.

"I am wondering two things," she said--"whether she is like you, and
whether she is interested in this scheme. But I am wondering more than
that. Is she pretty, Mr. Roden?"

"Yes, I think she is pretty."

"I am glad of that. I like girls to be pretty. It makes their lives so
much more interesting--to the onlooker, _bien entendu_, but not to
themselves. The happiest women I have known have been the plain ones.
But perhaps your sister will be pretty and happy too. That would be so
nice, and so very rare, Mr. Roden. I shall look forward to making her
acquaintance. I live in The Hague, you know. I have a house in Park
Straat, and I am only at this hotel while the painters are in
possession. You will allow me to call on your sister when she joins