he see in the morning? Or would she appear as some still more elusive
vision, retreating before him as he advanced?

Had he asked himself, he would have said that these speculations were
but the fruit of a natural curiosity. Why should he not be interested in
finding out the real nature of this girl, whose acquaintance he had just
made? It has been observed, however, that young gentlemen do not always
betray this frantic devotion to pyschological inquiry when the subject
of it, instead of being a fascinating maiden of twenty, is a
homely-featured lady of fifty.

Time passed; another cigar was lit; the blue light outside was becoming
silvery; and yet the problem remained unsolved. A fire of impatience and
restlessness was burning in his heart; a din as of brazen
instruments--what was the air the furious orchestra played?--was in his
ears; sleep or rest was out of the question.

"Oscar!" he called. "Oscar, my lad, let us go out!"

When he stealthily went downstairs, and opened the door and passed into
the street, behold! the new day was shining abroad--and how cold, and
still, and silent it was after the hot glare and whirl of that
bewildering night! No living thing was visible. A fresh, sweet air
stirred the leaves of the trees and bushes in St. James's Square. There
was a pale lemon-yellow glow in the sky, and the long, empty
thoroughfare of Pall Mall seemed coldly white.

Was this a somnambulist, then, who wandered idly along through the
silent streets, apparently seeing nothing of the closed doors and the
shuttered windows on either hand? A Policeman, standing at the corner of