"Good!" bawled my host; "good! You're a man of kidney, sir. A gentleman is always a gentleman; and I do not need to look at you twice, sir, to note that my niece's choice has been a happy one."
"You have not introduced me to your niece," said I, "who is, next to myself, the most important guest at the table."
"Hang me! The young lady at your side is Miss Helen Berkeley, the best horsewoman in the state, if I do say so myself."
Great applause, as they say in the press gallery. I looked squarely at the girl, but she was busy turning round her empty wine-glass.
"I appreciate the honor, sir," I said; "but now will you favor me with the modus operandi, or, to be particular, the reason of all this mystery?"
"I approach that at once. This is leap year, as you will recollect. On January first I gave a leap-year party, and in the spirit of fun each lady present declared her intention of bringing to a series of late dinners a gentleman whom none of us knew, either by sight or by reputation. He was to be lured into a carriage by some story or other, and was not to know the true state of things till he sat at the table. My niece was the last on the list. Those who backed down were to give a house-party of a week's length. Women detest house-parties, and that is the one reason why this comedy has gone down the line without a failure. This is the eighth dinner. Each lady present has fulfilled her obligation to the year. We have had some curious specimens of humanity: a barber, a mild lunatic, a detective who thought he was on the trail of some terrible crime, an actor, a political reformer, and an English groom who palmed himself off as a lord. The actor and yourself, sir, are the only men who seemed to possess any knowledge of the various uses of dinner forks."
"You haven't seen me eat yet," I interpolated. All this was highly amusing to me. I was less a victim than a spectator.
"You will do us the honor of permitting us to criticize your knowledge of the forks," laughed Ainsworth. "Now, Nell, tell us how you lured Mr. Anonymous into your carriage."
Very quietly she recounted the tale. She omitted but one incident.
"In front of a club!" cried the ladies in unison. "Why in the world didn't we think of that?"