My good host was greatly concerned, and begged to be allowed to
take the damaged headgear away and have it brushed. After a
little I consented, promising to walk round and look at the baths
while he was gone. The next moment he had disappeared.

I laid my stick and gloves on a glass-topped table and looked
about me. Never before had I seen so many baths gathered
together. Large and small, deep and shallow, normal and
abnormal, they stood orderly in long lines. The more elaborate
ones, fitted with screens and showers, douches, etc., stood a
little apart upon a baize-covered dais, bright with their
glistening pipes and rows of taps. And in an alcove, all
glorious, electric light burning above its gold-lacquered
fittings, reposed the bath of baths, a veritable monarch, with
his attendant basin, marble-topped table, gilded towel-rails,
etc., etc.

Attracted by the aristocracy upon the dais, I was proceeding to
stroll humbly in their direction, when I heard the sound of
footsteps. The next moment a girl stepped lightly between great
sliding iron doors, which led obviously from an adjoining chamber
on the same floor.

Very smart she was, in a black cloth coat with ermine collar and
cuffs. On her head was a trim black hat from which a fine brooch
was blazing. Save that she was fair, and that her feet flashed
as she walked, I could see little more.

For a moment the new-comer hesitated, looking about her. Then