A pleasant housemaid answered the bell, and told him that Miss Strange was away, and was not expected till to-morrow.
Here was a surprise.

He had never even thought of that possibility.
Begging leave to write Miss Strange a note, he presently found himself in Isabel's room.

It was the same his eyes had blessed from the street.
So this was Isabel's room! So evidently hers, her very self! Isabel pictures, Isabel wall-paper, Isabel chairs, Isabel cushions, Isabel desk, Isabel books, Isabel bibelots, Isabel litter,--all Isabel.
And there hung an arras portiere over a doorway to the right of the fireplace.

That was her bedroom! Dare he peep in?
That was her little bed.

Would the housemaid catch him if he slipped in and left a kiss on her pillow?
By the mirror was a grotesque little china monster with his mouth full of hat-pins.