"Without guides?"
"Without guides."
"I hope you won't come to grief some day."
"I hope not!"
"You think it is wise?" dubiously.
"Extremely wise. But you must be careful—excuse me! There are traps for beginners that don't affect old hands."
"Peter Steimathen!" she suggested.
"He is excellent. But you must do as he tells you."
"Oh, I've learnt to obey," laughed Bee.
Then she saw that his attention was distracted; and her own became distracted also. Two new arrivals had just come in; a middle-aged lady, stout and handsomely dressed; and a girl, young, and quite lovely. She had one of those picture-faces which are seen two or three times in a half-century. Not Bee's gaze alone suffered distraction. The whole room gazed; and the object of all this attention received it calmly, without a change of colour or the flicker of an eyelid.