“Ah, Mr. Pangbutt!”

She bowed to him formally, and added airily:

“So the river of life brings us together again in strange places!”

He came to meet her haltingly:

“I particularly wished to see you—alone,” he said in a low tone and with some embarrassment.

She bowed:

“We have drifted along such different ways,” she said coldly, “that I could scarcely believe the little servant when she told me so.”

“I came to see if I could be of any help,” he said, almost in a whisper.

She laughed lightly:

“Help?”