It's nice and quiet for Vancouver, but I expect you know this place." He realized that he had blundered when he saw the girl's face, but in another second she was laughing a little.

"No," she said.

"I'm afraid you are forgetting." Alton apparently misunderstood her.

"Well," he said, smiling, "it's quite possible you know another place that's nicer; but sit right yonder while I waken some of these people up." Now the public breakfast is an institution in Western cities whose inhabitants frequently take no meals at home, and the appearance of the bronzed man and girl together excited no comment, while Alton was able to contrive that they had a table in a corner to themselves.

His tastes were, as his companion knew, severely simple, and she wondered a little, because that establishment was one of the most expensive in the city.