It'll fill up the few moments while we are waiting." He made of it an entertaining narrative, which he concluded just as the soup was laid before them.

Eve listened with frank curiosity, with an amused smile.

Then came a lull in the conversation.

Hilliard began his dinner with appetite and gusto; the girl, after a few sips, neglected her soup and glanced about the neighboring tables.
"In my position," said Hilliard at length, "what would you have done ?" "It's a difficult thing to put myself in your position." "Is it, really?
Why, then, I will tell you something more of myself.
You say that Mrs.Brewer gave me an excellent character ?" "I certainly shouldn't have known you from her description." Hilliard laughed.
"I seem to you so disreputable ?" "Not exactly that," replied Eve thoughtfully.

"But you seem altogether a different person from what you seemed to her." "Yes, I can understand that.