"And by the way," Miss Windus next said, "he's been rather—different somehow—lately, don't you think?"

Sweets crunched for a moment, then:

"Different?... Do you mean he's been looking at you in that—ahem!—dreadful way?"

"What, that creature!..."

"Beg yours, dear——"

"I should think so!... But I fancied he'd been somehow—not quite the same——"

"Well, anything for a change, as the song says. Myself, if I found I couldn't get along without 'em, I should prefer——"

But a "Sssh!" interrupted Miss Causton. Somebody had come into the farther bay, and the rest for a time was whispering.

When next the conversation became audible its tenor did not seem to have changed.

"Scented soap in a little celluloid box, too!" Miss Windus admired.