“Mere skirmishing,” Peter Ruff continued, “but I think—yes, I think that it may lead to something.”

“Whom am I to watch?” she asked.

“Any one who looks interesting,” Peter Ruff answered. “For instance, if this person Vincent Cawdor should be about.”

“He would recognize me!” she declared.

Peter Ruff shrugged his shoulders.

“One must hold the candle,” he remarked.

“I decline to flirt with him,” she declared. “Nothing would induce me to be pleasant to such an odious creature.”

“He will be too busy to attempt anything of the sort. Of course he may not be there. It may be the merest fancy on my part. At any rate, you may rely upon it that he will not make any overtures in a public place like the Milan. Mr. Vincent Cawdor may be a curious sort of person, but I do not fancy that he is a fool!”

“Very well,” Miss Brown said, “I will go.”

“Be back soon after three,” Peter Ruff said. “I am going up to my room to do my exercises.”