When Septimus had seen Emmy admitted to the Ravenswood Hotel, he stood on the gloomy pavement outside wondering what he should do.

Then it occurred to him that he belonged to a club--a grave, decorous place where the gay pop of a champagne cork had been known to produce a scandalized silence in the luncheon-room, and where serious-minded members congregated to scowl at one another's unworthiness from behind newspapers.

A hansom conveyed him thither.

In the hall he struggled over two telegrams which had caused him most complicated thought during his drive.

The problem was to ease Zora's mind and to obtain a change of raiment without disclosing the whereabouts of either Emmy or himself.