“Sorry to say I don’t,” he replied, laughing.

“No? They live in the next house to the hotel.”

“Hotel? Ah, I think I’ve met the Hotels! Was there a son about my age, with——”

“Don’t be absurd!” she laughed. “We’ll never get on if you don’t go by the rules.”

“I thought I was,” he answered.

“Let me see! Oh, yes, the Graveses, do you know them?”

“Why, yes; do you?” he answered interestedly.

“I’ve met them.”

“Vincent is a great friend of mine,” he said eagerly. “I was on my way to visit them for a while when—when I stopped here.”

“Really?” she cried. “How small the world is, after all!”