"And how did she seem? And what had she to say for herself?"
"She looked prettier than I'd ever seen her--better dressed, you know, and all that."
"And what did she say?"
"She flatly refused to tell me who had brought her to London. She had heard we were leaving in the morning and she wanted to say good-bye--so she said."
"Deuced odd! What did you do?"
"Well--I was knocked all of a heap and didn't know what to do. Then I suddenly bethought me of Mine Beteta. She had been very kind to me, and only that afternoon, when I was saying good-bye, she had laughed and said her only regret was that I hadn't got into any scrape that she could help me out of. It was jolly nice of her, you know. So I bundled Kattie into a cab, and took her straight to madame, and left her with her."
"Poor little Kattie! She was too good for that kind of thing. And you got no hint as to who----
"Not a word. I asked her straight, and she said she would not tell."
"I'd like to wring his neck for him, whoever he was."
"She probably knew we would feel that way, and that's why she wouldn't speak. And how have you been keeping, Jack? Seems to me you look thinner. Perhaps it's the way you dress--or don't dress. I never saw such a seedy, weedy-looking set. You'd certainly be taken for tramps in England."